The Black Thirteen
by Dragonfly Glimmers
Summary: Sora and Roxas come from a family of knights. The kingdoms Square and Destiny have been fighting for over a century. When events take a turn, they find the fate of the kingdoms in their hands. Will they be able to stop the war, or is this year 111?
1. A Little Crazy

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything at all! If I did...then, well, things would be different now, wouldn't they?

I got this idea because I was doing this retarded(I hate it) research paper on Knighthood. And suddenly, I realized that females were not knights(well, in my sources, it never mentioned females being knights anyway). And that, the sole idea of females not being able to be knights, is where this all stirred up from.(Just thought you'd all like to know the origins of this wonderful story :D)

Oh, that reminds me. Some of you may be saying '111 years? Holy fizzle, who does everyone manage to survive?' well, there are(er, were) periods of truces here and there. Like, maybe six years here, three years there, eight months over there, you know. The 'Calms' (ehehe). There HAVE been wars in history that lasted over a hundred years as well...

P.S. I'm not an expert at the whole topic of knighthood(OH NOEZ I'M GOING TO FAIL MY RESEARCH PAPER) so forgive me if I do have inaccuracies here and there(such as the modern speech). I suppose since this is Medieval Fantasy, I can bend the rules slightly. (It originally intended to not start out as Fantasy, but then I _had_ to add the chocobos and Aeons and Espers and magical powers and what-not.)

The Black Thirteen

Prologue: **A Little Crazy**

_The two continents of Disney and Square. Yes, that is where we begin our tale. It has been many years of war and hatred between these two lands, and all of the kingdoms residing within the continents. No one knows what started it, as it has been going on for so long. All people know is that they want it to stop. It has to stop. Parents' lives are being taken, villages are being pillaged by shameless bandits, orphans left crying in the streets...no. No more of these long years of hate and war. There had been temporary truces here and there, but no matter what, the hate continued. Blood continued to spill. Everyday was a day of fear. _

_That's why the knights, a chivalrous class of nobles, started to come about in order to protect those who lived in fear. Men who followed a code of chivalry were highly revered in society and it was thought they would be the ones who could bring about love and peace again._ _The code was a guideline to a knight's career, and it went like this:_

_A Knight is sworn to Valor_

_His Heart knows only Virtue_

_His Blade defends the Helpless_

_His Might upholds the Weak_

_His Words speak only Truth_

_His Wrath undoes the Wicked_.

_These knights were told about in stories telling old and young alike about their magnificent feats and how noble and kind they were. An especially prestigious family of knights whose names were written in the majority of these stories were the de Luz family. As year number ninety-three of the tireless war drew to a close, the de Luz family were granted with two delights: twin boys. At the age of seven, both of them were separated to become knights, as that was their destiny. Some claim their separation as the reason why, but..._

"Seven years." A dirty blonde mused, looking boredly up at the calendar tacked against the stone wall. "Seven long, hard years of running around doing favors to people I don't even know. All for some stupid title father forced me, _**us**_**, **into to. Tell me, Sora, are you enjoying this as much as I think you are?" The spiky-haired blonde seemed to be talking to the calendar, if such a ridiculous thing existed.

"SQUIRE!" The blonde heard shouts coming from outside of his room. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm a person, too. Couldn't you address me by name?" He asked, looking at the door which might have been knocked down if those _annoying_ people kept on shouting 'Squire!' at him. Which he was, but it made him feel like a dog. And he was not a dog. Even if his parents always made him feel inferior, he never wanted to succumb to those feelings.

"Roxas, it will not please the Lady if she hears this rebellious speech of yours!" Shouted a recognizable voice. It was the maid to the knight he served under. At the age of seven, a young noble boy(which, unfortunately, happened to be Roxas in this case) would be sent to a castle to train under a knight as a page. When he reached about fourteen or fifteen years of age, he would then be appointed to squire status. Which was where Roxas was at in his torturous(in his opinion, at any rate) journey to becoming a full-fledged knight.

"Oh yes," He said sarcastically, not thinking about opening the door(just to annoy the people he loathed so), "Because I am _so_ planning on taking down this entire castle with my army of mice in the next twenty-four hours."

"Roxas!" Another one of the maids shouted, "Please, this is not becoming of a future knight!"

"Who said I wanted to be a knight?" He asked, yawning. It was fun to argue with the staff of the castle. They always got so bent out of shape for no reason.

As if they had rehearsed, everyone outside of his door gasped in perfect unison. Then they proceeded with saying such things as 'Oh no! You mustn't say that!' and other things of the like. Roxas couldn't really care. He didn't want to be here any longer than he had to be, and while being here, he might as well enjoy it, right?

Finally, it seemed as if the servants had enough. "We will knock this door down, squire!"

"Go ahead." Roxas said, rolling his eyes. He didn't _really_ think they'd break down his door because during the course of his time here, the door had been broken down and replaced twenty-one times. So he was in his rebellious stage. So what?

"Must we break down this door again? Please, Roxas, if you want to be a knight--"

"There you go again." He sighed, knowing who was speaking(and that he better be respectful), "With all due respect, Lady Ariel, I never said I _**wanted **_to be a knight. Isn't your own daughter as rebellious as I? Can you really blame me?"

"Well, no," Lady Ariel replied, "Melody does not like being taught all the proper things a lady should be taught. I suppose I cannot blame you. But you have come this far and being a knight is a great honor. Especially since you are of the de Luz line."

"Which is known for it's high-quality knights ever since the class was formed. Yes, yes, I know, being a knight is expected of me. And I give you my gratitude for having me here. I'm sure it's your honor as much as it is mine, but still..." He sighed. Roxas was forced into this. Why couldn't he just live the luxurious life of a noble in his home, with his family? But no, instead, his father's pride forced him AND his brother to this lifestyle.

Roxas could only wonder how much Sora _**hated**_ it wherever he was...

* * *

"Squire!"

"Yes, my lord?" Replied the brunette version of Roxas, facing the knight he was serving, which happened to be one of the King of Disney's(alright, so their father played favorites...) personal knights. There were two, actually, and the other one was a lot more carefree and less strict than the one who had to teach him how to be a knight.

"This food is too salty for me, Squire, take it back and ask for something else less salty!" Quacked a white duck who, oddly enough, happened to be a knight. Not just any knight, but the knight he was to serve under. He didn't find it to odd that his mentor was to be a duck; since he _had_ seen the King and Queen of Disney Castle, and, after seeing them, well, nothing's impossible.

"Yes, Sir Donald." He quickly replied, taking the duck's(not just any duck, mind you) dish and about to walk back to the kitchen, when Donald spoke again.

"It's Sir Donald _Duck_ to you, Squire Sora de Luz. Don't forget it!" Donald quacked again, and then added, "Thank you, squire."

"I-It's a pleasure, my lord." Sora replied, scurrying into the kitchen before his strict instructor barked--errr, quacked any more orders at him. The chef looked at the brunette and sighed. Sora nodded and handed the plate to him, "Sir Donald _Duck_ says it's too much salt, sir."

"Too much salt?!" The lead chef, named Pete cried, taking the plate from the other chef, "_You,"_ With saying this, he pointed a fat finger at Sora, "tell Sir Donald _Duck_ that this has the perfect amount of salt in it and if he cannot taste the fine blend of herbs mixed perfectly to accent the salt, then he has no culinary skills! GO! Tell him!" The plump chef then pushed poor Sora out of the kitchen.

He looked back at the kitchen, to see all of the chefs' eyes on him. Sora gulped and walked back towards Donald, "Um, the kitchen has a message for you, my lord."

"What? Make it snappy, too! I want my food!" Donald demanded. _'Geez! He's so cranky for a duck.'_ Sora thought, mentally shaking his head. Of course he wouldn't perform this sort of action in public, _especially _in front of Donald. That would be considered disrespectful and all squires were taught that their lord who taught them was like a second father. And Roxas had learned(therefore, Sora had learned from watching his younger brother's punishments for acting out-of-line) _more_ than once to **never** be disrespectful to his father. Though strangely, Sora never remembered even being reprimanded by his parents, though they had watched over Roxas' every move like a hawk. Playing favorites? Most definitely, although Sora didn't realize this.

"Well, uh, the head chef Pete said something like..." Sora scratched his head, trying to remember what he had said, "That there's a perfect blend of herbs to accent the salt and you have no culinary skills since you can't taste it."

"WHAT!" Donald jumped off of his chair and walked straight into the kitchen. Sora followed, watching a fight commence between Pete and Donald. Again, Sora might add. Those two were always at odds with each other. Whether it was because Donald suspected Pete of treachery or if it was because the food really was that terrible to a duck's senses, Sora did not know.

Their squabbles occurred so often that the brunette of fourteen years(meaning Sora, of course) knew exactly what to do when one occurred. He sighed, walking out of the dining room and towards the throne room, people greeting him along the way, and he greeting others. Sora liked being at this castle. It was the pinpoint of the entire continent of Disney(which consisted of not only the Disney kingdom, but other small countries and kingdoms) so there was always hustle and bustle going on. Everyday there were new faces, and from what Sora had heard, there wouldn't be any attacks on the castle in awhile since the King and Queen of the Kingdom of Square(likewise, it was the entire pinpoint of the continent of Square) passed away four years ago, leaving their daughter in charge of the entire kingdom.

And of course, Sora knew all girls to be peaceful and more concerned over what color matched their eyes than a war. But still, Sora did know that it wouldn't be too long before the government of Square ordered an attack on the castle, or _a_ castle allied with Disney. As his thoughts drew to a close, so did his 'journey' to the throne room, which he entered without a knock. He could see the Queen and the person he was looking for on the other side of the room, so Sora quickly hurried to where they were.

"God speed you." Sora said as he stepped before them, "Your Majesty," Sora bowed to the Queen, and then turned to the other, "Lady Daisy, Sir Donald _Duck_ and Head Chef Pete got into a fight." He made sure he emphasized 'Duck' on Donald's part.

"Again?" Lady Daisy, who was also a duck(and happened to be Donald's 'ladylove', or, shall we modernize it, 'girlfriend'), said, "Oh dear, I just don't know what to do with Donald anymore." She sighed, "He just has such a hot temper! I almost feel sorry for you, Sora."

"At least I learn from my mistakes quickly." Sora said, but Daisy just sighed again. "Hey! What do you mean 'almost'?"

"Well," Daisy started, both of them bowing to the Queen and then leaving the throne room, "It's not everyday we accept noble boys to be trained under Donald, Sir Goofy, or even His Majesty, the King."

"It's only because I'm a de Luz, right?" Sora asked, and then frowned, "You know, I wonder why father decided to separate my brother and I. I haven't seen or heard from him in seven years!"

"It's probably because if he sent you both to the same castle, he knows you two would be in a competition to be the better one. It might start jealousy, and jealousy leads up to hate. I believe that's how this war started." Daisy explained.

"Yeah, but, still...A little competition is good once in a while, you know? I'm the _only_ squire here. It's tough when you're the only one running around the castle gardens in a big suit of heavy armor for endurance training. At least we'd keep each other going." Sora said, and then shrugged, "Oh well. I'll get to see him when we both become knights!"

"_IF_ you both become knights." Daisy clarified, "Your training is going along fine, but some boys have difficulty becoming knights. Usually if they show no promise or sometimes even interest, they're sent home. Or in a battle, the squire could get killed."

Sora laughed, "Nah. There isn't any way my brother would get killed out in the battlefield, Lady Daisy. He's as tough as nails."

"He could've changed after seven years." Daisy proposed, "Things change. Like the King and Queen of Square. No one expected them to die, they were, as you say it, 'tough as nails'. But an illness took their lives and the whole country was in disarray. I suppose His Majesty is kind enough to not attack while they were recovering themselves, but–oh! I'm sorry. I hadn't meant to speak to you about politics. My apologies."

"No, it's alright. Sir Donald _Duck_ probably would have told me about what's going on over there anyway." Sora shrugged, as they finally arrived at the kitchen.

"Sora, if you would please stand back." Daisy commanded, and Sora did as told. She opened the kitchen doors, and walked right into the fray of Pete and Donald. Sora winced as he heard a high-pitched 'DONALD THIS IS SETTING A BAD EXAMPLE!' and a bunch of other things he tuned out as he waited quietly.

After a long five minutes, Donald walked out of the kitchen with his head down. Daisy exited the kitchen after him, arms crossed. "Apologize to Sora, Donald. He may be your squire, but he's not your slave." She said.

"Do I have to?" Donald asked, turning to Daisy, who just gave him a glare. He sighed, turning to Sora, "Sorry, Squire."

"It's alright, my lord. I understand you must be under a lot of pressure of having to teach me everything you know." Sora said, nodding his head. He was taught at a young age to respect everyone, and _especially_ revere the knight teaching him like a father. Though Donald certainly wasn't his father(no resemblance _**whatsoever**_) Sora had to abide by the teachings. That way, he'd become a knight and make his _actual_ father proud.

"That's my boy!" Donald quacked proudly, "Now, then, Sora, you have to shine my armor. And Goofy's too, while you're at it."

"_Sir_ Goofy." Daisy corrected(if Sora were a little bit more immature he would've taken serious consideration to sticking out his tongue, but he knew better) him, "If you address people improperly around Sora, he will think that it's okay to address them improperly as well."

"Awww, but Daisy..."

"No buts!" She said promptly, "Now, I shall be having tea with Her Majesty the Queen. Sora, you are welcome to join us with Sir Donald and Sir Goofy, if you wish."

"But..." Sora looked at Donald, then back at Daisy, "I was given orders to shine armor."

"Isn't that the ninth time during these past two days that you were given that job? You have been working very hard, and I can see you are an intelligent boy. It would do you good to pick up on how to act around royalty and other nobility." Daisy said.

"T-Thank you very much, Lady Daisy! But I'm afraid my lord's orders come before your own." He said, bowing to her and then exiting the dining room to the armory where all of the weapons and armor was kept.

* * *

It was late at night, and Roxas could hardly sleep. Well, he was an extremely light sleeper and the lightest sound woke him up so he hardly got any sleep _anyway_, but tonight seemed different. Something didn't feel right. Whether it was the fact that Lady Ariel had actually left him alone(and told everyone else to leave him be as well) which is something she didn't usually do, or if it was that he was becoming a brooder, he didn't know. But Roxas certainly hoped it wasn't the latter. The _last_ thing he wanted to do was to become a philosopher and get known for writing _books_ and reading.

He decided that it wouldn't be so bad to see what was keeping him from the sweet slumber of serenity. Just as he lit his lamp(he certainly wasn't going to grope about the castle in the dark), his door burst open. The one who had opened his door was carrying a lamp as well, and the light filled his room.

"Roxas, you must come!" It was none other than the Lady's daughter, Melody. She was a pretty raven-haired girl, and they were the same age, too. _But_, despite what you may have thought, he really wasn't attracted to her in that sort of way. Sure, she was pretty. But she was a bit too rough-and-tough for him. Not that he knew what he liked in a girl. But, anyway, like his lovelife mattered right now.

"Come where? What happened?" He asked; he knew something hadn't been right. The animosity filling the atmosphere was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"The castle! It's under attack!" Melody said, adding, "Mother and father sent me to get you and the other squires! Please, you _must_ help!"

_...That's when things got a little crazy._


	2. The Echo of Time

**Disclaimer:** Oh, I wish...

I just realized, after writing it about fifty-million times in this chapter, that 'The Kingdom of Square', 'The Lands of Square', 'The Square Lands'(which is especially funny due to obvious reasons) or 'The Square Kingdom' sounds stupid. -laugh- Oh well, I hope you guys can get over it. :P After all, this is kind of like 'SQUEENIX VS. DISNEY ROUND CXI' or something.

Thanks to C.P., Random (no matter how many times you change your username, you'll always be Random...it's inescapable! It's...DESTINY!), Coco, Stephen2462 and Lady Rini!

**P.S.** I'm such a dork I added Nomura-sensei in here. -laugh- Oh, in case you didn't know, Sora is the older brother and Roxas is the younger brother. Only by four minutes though. :O

The Black Thirteen

Stage the First: **The Echo of Time**

_It was around this time that the gears of fate began to turn. Another seemingly ordinary day would turn sour for the older, but the younger..._

Roxas, and the other squires as well, were on the battlefield a long way away from the castle. The ladies, servants, and other people who couldn't fight were in the castle, while Roxas, the other squires, and the knights they served under were out in the open field, their weapons ready and their armor shining. Even through the darkness they could see as fine as day, since torches from the castle had been lit and the light from the fire shined through the darkness.

"An unexpected attack," Spoke one of the squires Roxas had known since he was sent here, "That's terribly nasty of them!" At least the nightly watch had seen them coming.

"Them?" Roxas questioned, but there was no time for questioning as he looked forward to the chocobo-riding(which were giant yellow chickens. Why people would want to ride overgrown chickens into battle was beyond him) knights. The head of the little triangle of knights(which weren't that many; how are they supposed to be attacking the castle if they only have a handful of knights?) had a shield with a brilliant red flame on it with a phoenix over the flame. His helmet was awfully showy, having a crest of the same emblem on his shield. Roxas just rolled his eyes. The knight leader was probably attacking the castle to show off for his ladylove. Actually, being that the leader knight didn't have some kind of scarf or glove on his persona, he probably didn't _have_ a ladylove. Roxas snorted in the amusement of it. What a **loser.**

The knight with the phoenix on his shield rose his sword and yelled, "Attack!!" His little squadron of soldiers rushed forward as the squires rushed to help their knights. But not Roxas. He drew a sword, one he was given by the Lady Ariel before going into battle, and charged straight for the leader, the only one who had remained stationary.

He heard his name being called amidst the cries and clangs of steel, but Roxas paid no mind. If he could get to the leader and maybe manage to injure him, then he'd _finally_ earn the respect he deserved. Running up the knight, who was not paying attention at all, Roxas smirked and slashed at the chocobo, having no mercy even for cute over-sized chickens. Besides, even the chocobo was wearing armor. His aim was to scare it off and perhaps make the knight fall, an aim that was soon realized.

It squawked and sprinted away so fast that the leader fell off of his mount with a groan. The leader's helmet(which were hot and terribly uncomfortable; Roxas knew by experience that those things were absolutely _dreadful)_ rolled away, revealing the leader not to be some ditzy old man but a young man only a handful of years older than himself. Roxas huffed, he _knew_ the guy was a loser just by judging his ornate and showy armor and the fact that he didn't have a ladylove. The leader stood up, his sword ready as he looked around for who had scared his chocobo away.

"Ahem." Roxas cleared his throat loudly to get the leader's attention, his sword ready in his hand. The leader looked a bit...ditzy.

The knight looked at Roxas and rose an eyebrow. "A _kid_ managed to catch me off guard? Maybe Larxene was right, I _am_ losing my touch." He sighed, and placed a hand on top of his spiky red hair and glanced at Roxas again, who could only wonder as to why this knight didn't seem serious. Maybe it was because he **couldn't** fight, which was a possibility. After all, knights who don't fight don't really get dates easily. Yeah, this knight was definitely a ditz.

"Hey!" Roxas growled, offended by the knight calling him 'kid'(when he showed so much more maturity and seriousness than the red-headed knight) swinging the sword towards the red-haired knight, who blocked the attack with his shield easily.

"Hold up there, kid, I'm trying to remember how the Queen knighted me. I think it was... 'In the name of Square I now dub thee a knight' or something. Huh." The leader crossed his arms and looked at Roxas, "Do you happen to know?" He tapped his finger on his chin and looked around.

Roxas sighed, a bit frustrated. Some leader this guy was. This was his first real battle, and he was fighting someone--no, not _even _fighting. He was idly chatting with this knight like they were best friends. "Look, I'd love to have tea and sit down and chat with you, but you _attacked_ my castle and--"

"Well, in case you're not familiar with the code of chivalry, little squire, it states _clearly_ that a knight cannot attack someone of lower social status. Which would happen to be you. So, in order to fight you, I need to knight you. Got it memorized?" The leader asked, pointing a finger to his head.

"It's 'By the name of Saint Nomura, I dub thee Sir Roxas de Luz of Disney...'" Roxas said, adding in his name, though he doubted this airhead would remember it.

"Oh, you're a de Luz? It's an _**honor**_ to be fighting one," The leader said mockingly, smirking, then his expression softened considerably and added, "Oh, that means you have a brother, right?"

"_Twin_ brother." Roxas corrected him, wondering if all battles were really like this or if it was just the knight leader. He surveyed the battlefield and realized that the grassy plains were now littered with blood, chocobos, and fallen knights.

"You know, I knew I liked you, kid. We're a lot alike." The leader said, then touched his sword to Roxas' shoulder, "In the name of Saint Nomura, I dub thee Sir Roxas de Luz of Disney. You know," The knight grinned wickedly as the sword that had been touching Roxas' shoulder was now at his neck(_'He tricked me!'_ Roxas thought angrily, clenching his fists, _'The 'loser' act was all just a farce!'_), "I really like you, kid. It's too bad you're a naive boy, but that can't be helped."

Roxas just glared at him in reply, not even bothering to argue. Instead, the redheaded knight asked the fatal question Roxas truly wasn't prepared to answer, "Will you yield, rescue or no rescue?"

Roxas bit his lip. The clever knight was basically asking him if he wanted mercy or if he wanted to die. He was only fourteen, how was he supposed to know? He only became a squire a couple of months ago, and now he was a full-fledged knight, stuck in this position. Roxas squeezed his eyes shut, thinking about both answers. To die or not to die, that is the question..**.**Sighing heavily, he opened his azure eyes, seemingly lit aflame with determination, "I will **not** yield."

* * *

Sora hummed a happy tune, not really to any song, just a tune he was making up, as he shined Sir Donald and Sir Goofy's, and even His Majesty the King's armor. For, Sora just _had_ to note, the tenth time that week. Just as he shined it(really, with all the shining Sora did, he half-expected for it to rust one day) so that each piece of armor shined to perfection, Sora decided that he was finished with shining the armor for today. While not the most exciting thing to do in the universe, it was _certainly_ better than having to stay outside in hot or cold days without eating for the purpose of the one thing that brought dread to all squires' minds: **Endurance training.**

Just thinking about it sent shivers up Sora's spine. Well, it was just one step towards his goal of becoming a famous knight who saved _beautiful_ damsels in distress from horrifying dragons! (He had heard stories that there actually were dragons in the world! He heard all kinds of stories about magical creatures and it just sounded...exciting!) Sora already had his mind set: _He'd_ be a knight who would be told in _all_ of the stories depicting his bravery and dashing good looks. Not that Sora thought this; he didn't. But some of the female servants and the maids would always pass by him giggling, fantasizing about how _they'd_ someday be rescued by _him._ Who could blame them? Sporting chocolate locks that spiked up in every direction and absolutely _gorgeous_ sky-bearing azure eyes was definitely a plus. Which was one feature the de Luz twins were particularly noted for.

Sora stood up and stretched; sitting on the floor shining armor certainly caused his joints to ache with misuse. He exited the armory and walked towards Sir Donald's room, going to ask if he wanted anything of him, which was often the cause. Though he may be a duck, the knight had a bottomless lake for a digestive system. Every time he even _knocked _on the door, Donald would always be quacking commands at him such as 'Get me some food, and not too salty either! Make sure that conspirator Chef doesn't poison it!'

Still, performing menial tasks for his lord was better than **endurance training.** Anything was. As he passed by the throne room, something interesting caught his ear. Sora reprimanded himself for eavesdropping, but it sounded like the King and Queen were talking about something important. However, Sora could only hear parts and pieces of the sentences.

"...casualties...Atlantica?" He could hear the Queen say with worry, "Sora...there, right?"

"...unfortunately...discovered..." The King was the speaker this time, and Sora couldn't help but wonder what they were talking about. He frowned, hearing the knob turn. He jolted away from the door, quietly and stealthily sneaking into one of the next rooms over.

While hiding away in the uncomfortable, and small room he was in which was stuffed with mops and brooms of all kinds, he could hear Their Majesties' footsteps pass by him, yet again catching pieces of sentences, since they were talking in hushed whispers.

"...tell...fate...?" Sora heard the Queen ask.

"Yes...circumstances..." The King replied, and that was all Sora could hear. He heard more whispers, but couldn't make the words out. Frustrated, Sora pressed his ear into the door even more to see if he could hear anything. Still, no dice.

However, Sora's involuntary pushing on the door, and since he had not thought of locking the door, caused the door to open with considerable force. The poor brunette tumbled out of the closet with an 'oomph!', a mop landing right on top of his head, which would have been quite comical if he had not been _**eavesdropping **_on Their Royal Majesties. Through the mop, Sora saw the King and Queen staring at him, the latter chuckling.

Sora stood up, put the mop away, closed the door, and bowed to the King and Queen. He had to bow very low, too, for he had heard it was impolite to bow and not be reaching the King and Queen. Since they were mice, it was a hard feat, but one he had gotten used to. Then, when Sora was standing straight again, he cleared his throat and said in a forced, yet composed, voice, "Your Majesties, I would just like to let you both know that Ye Olde Closet is safe from any Square traps and safe from any attacks."

The King and Queen laughed at Sora's attempt to hide the obvious fact he was eavesdropping. It was a good attempt, but one that didn't persuade the King nor the Queen. "Tell me, Sora, what did you hear?" King Mickey asked, looking up at Sora. It was kind of embarrassing, actually, to have the King and Queen be two or three feet shorter than you, and having them be such regal figures while you were nothing more than a boy who was going, hopefully, to become something great.

"H-Hear?" Sora laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "I was checking the closet out, that's all! Ahahaha..." He looked from the King to the Queen, and neither were buying it. It was better to tell the truth to them than to lie to them, Sora knew. Honesty gave you brownie points. Especially in a **trial.** Sora gulped. He wasn't going to be tried, was he?! He didn't commit a serious offense, right?! "Oh, King Mickey, Queen Minnie! I didn't know it was a crime to eavesdrop! I didn't hear that much, I swear! Only some thing about me and Atlantica, that's all! Honest!"

"Please calm down." The Queen said in a soothing voice, placing a hand on Sora's arm, "It won't do you any good to get yourself upset when we haven't even told you what was wrong yet!"

"But..." Sora blinked, registering her words in his brain, "That means that there _is_ something wrong, right?"

The King seemed to sigh. "Yes. Now, follow us, Sora." The King commanded, he and his wife turning around and walked away. Sora nodded and followed them slowly, panic sinking in.

He didn't like this feeling that something was terribly, terribly wrong, but he couldn't shake off the bad vibes he was receiving. From _where_ were they coming from?

* * *

**EL FIN**

Of the Stage('chapter'), of course. Now, I want to tell you guys why this chapter is so short. Originally, I planned for this to be one BIG chapter, but I separated it into two because I was like, 'Nah, I like cliffhangers'. See, Roxas' fate was in this chapter...but now it'll be in the next.

Teehee, I'm so evil. Next chapter will be short too...

Anyway, don't expect this A/N's often. I have up to Stage the Thirteenth (originally it was the twelfth...but now it's not) written, and I feel too lazy to write them out...anyway, um, yeah.

Also, for terminology, 'Will you yield, rescue or no rescue' basically, like I said, means if you want your life to be saved or not. A knight would ask this because it's chivalrous to be merciful. If a knight answers 'I will yield', then he will normally be taken hostage. If a knight answers 'I will not yield', then he well...um, dies.


	3. First to Last and Back to the Past

**Disclaimer:** No.

Thanks to Din's Daughter (I l.o.v.e. your penname!), Hikari inai kasumi (what does that translate into? It sounds pretty!), Random, C.P., Random, Lady Rini, Coco...

The Black Thirteen

Stage the Second: **First to Last and Back to the Past**

"Now..." The King started, pacing back and forth in front of Sora, who was sitting on a chair, and the Queen, who was standing beside the chair, "Your brother, Roxas, was sent to the castle of my loyal barons, the castle residing near the Atlantica Sea, the castle of Atlantica."

"Right." Sora nodded, feeling dread kneading his soul. It was so nerve-wracking he couldn't stand it! Now Sora was definitely sure what this feeling was: Something happened to Roxas. It would explain his overwhelming anxiety. Ever since they were little, they had not always been as close as Sora had liked them to be, but there had been some kind of uncanny connection between them. Sora remembered that one time Roxas had hit his head very hard on the fireplace due to some event that Sora couldn't really remember, and his brother had experienced a concussion. During that time, Sora could remember he had the worst of headaches.

As a matter of fact, his head _ached_ just thinking about the headache! Whenever either of them felt something strongly, whether it be an emotion or pain, the other was sure to feel a slight twinge of it too. So Sora was sure that either Roxas had been kidnapped or--or...no, Sora couldn't bring himself to even _think_ of that option. But the words of Lady Daisy echoed back into his mind, _"Or in a battle, the squire could get killed.__**.**__"_

"As you may have heard, the castle was attacked by a small renegade force from Square. It seemed to have been independant from the Queen, so I do not think a retaliation is proper. You must understand that, Sora." The King said, taking a deep breath, "It was an unexpected attack, since it was at night..." It 'was' at night. It happened a couple of days ago? Then again--then again, news traveled by chocobo. The castle of Atlantica and the capital were on opposite sides of the continent.

"What happened?" Sora stood up, wanting to know. If he didn't know what happened to his brother soon, his anxiety would kill him, "Your Majesty, I must know what has happened to my brother!"

"It is with a heavy heart that I say this, Sora," The King started, and Sora's face fell as he froze, "But we were not able to recover his body. My deepest condolences."

"Wha..." Sora blinked, his mind repeating the words over and over again in his head. He didn't seem to understand how this could've happened. No, this was just a sick joke. That was it. The King was pulling a sick joke on him because he eavesdropped. Roxas hadn't _died,_ that was the most foolish thing Sora had heard in his life! But, as much as Sora tried to believe that it _was_ just a sick joke, he knew it wasn't. The distraught face on the King's face said it all. Sora glanced at the Queen, maybe hoping for some glimmer of hope, but only saw the same expression that was now written on the Queen's face. Now written on his face as well. "He died..." Sora repeated slowly, "My brother died...in action."

"It is any man's wish to die on the battlefield. An honorable death, no doubt." King Mickey said, "We will all honor his valiance on the battlefield."

"But..." Sora's voice was so void of emotion, it _**hurt**_ to listen to his voice, "You never found his body. He could've used the battle as a cover-up and ran away...or could have been kidnapped."

"I believe," Queen Minnie started, placing a sympathetic hand on his arm, "That your father taught you boys to have more honor than to just drop everything and run. The likelihood of kidnapping is very slim."

"Unless they knew your brother was one of the de Luz family." King Mickey said, "And there is no way of telling if you are one or not, so unless he told them they couldn't know. After all, they know how great the knights of your family grow up to be. It would be a fatal blow to us if they kidnapped your brother and somehow convinced them to fight for them."

"Yeah, you don't need to tell **me** that." Sora said dully, brushing past the King and Queen, not even bothering to do bow to them before exiting the room. Their Majesties understood why Sora just...couldn't. He probably felt betrayed by Disney that they'd just let his brother die like that. Though that was clearly not the case, any well-informed person would know that if you're desperate enough you'll put the blame of someone's death on anyone you can. Even if it happens to be the King and Queen.

* * *

On the _other_ side of the world, a very, very groggy blonde was beginning to stir. He moaned, rubbing his head, and realizing he had the worst headache he had _ever_ experienced in his entire life.

Worse than the concussion he had received a long time prior. He blinked his azure eyes, glancing around his surroundings. Roxas' first thought was that he was in Heaven. The whole room was white, and a girl who was the _epitome_ of an angel was standing over him. With platinum blonde hair cascading over one shoulder and pale blue eyes staring into his azure ones inquisitively, the girl certainly had an oddly tranquil and seraphic aura about her. Something that soothed Roxas' headache to the slightest.

"Oh, you are awake!" The girl exclaimed, smiling brightly and taking his hand, "Thank _goodness_! I was so afraid that you were never going to wake up!"

Roxas blinked, his headache making the things the girl was saying a bit fuzzy. Instead, he just asked, "Am I dead?" Come to think of it, Roxas didn't _remember_ dying. All he remembered was saying that he would not yield, and now he's lying in this stranger's room with a serious headache.

The girl giggled, gripping his hand a bit tighter, as if he would die if she let go, "No, no! You are alive. We have been anxious for days now when you would awake! Though, when Sir Axel brought you in, your head was bleeding terribly and we really thought that you _might_ have died. But I am so glad you are not dead! I could not simply bear it to see anymore people to die within these walls!"

Roxas rubbed his head, realizing it was bandaged. What had happened was clear to him now that the girl explained it, "I experienced a concussion when I was little. I hit my head around here," He placed his hand on the top of his head, wincing slightly as that was the center of the pain swirling around, "Which was where that redhead hit me. He must have re-opened the wound."

"Oh, I am sorry! I wish he would not have resorted to such barbaric methods, but I suppose it is better than letting your life halt! I could not possibly imagine such a fate happening to you, Sir Roxas de Luz!" The girl said sweetly, letting go of his hand. Her sickeningly sweet personality might have _really_ bothered him had she not been so...genuine with her words. You could tell she meant what she said.

"Sir?..." Roxas blinked. That title was for knights, and he wasn't a...oh, right. He had been knighted by that redhead. What did she call him? Alex? Felix? Wheelie? "Who are you?" He asked, and he supposed he had a rude tone in his voice. Well, he couldn't help it. He felt like his head was splitting open and he was suddenly whisked away to this strange place. Anyone in their right mind would be rude.

The redhead, from before, said(Roxas hadn't even realized he was in the room until he spoke up), "Hey! Watch your mouth. This is the Queen you're talking to! Show some respect. Got it memorized?"

"The...the Queen?" It took Roxas a while to get the information processed through his brain. He immediately jolted up, his mouth slightly ajar, and stared at the girl, "The Queen!" He began to think of Queens that were as young as this, and could only come up with one simple solution, "_**You're**_ the Queen of the Square Kingdom?" He was shocked that _this_ girl, this sugar-coated fragile little doll, was the _Queen._ Not to mention her age!--hadn't her parents died four years before? Roxas forced himself to shut his jaw as all this amazement was not helping his headache. Wait a minute--he was in _Square?_ It took weeks to reach there and...sighing, Roxas laid back down and groaned.

The girl laughed and curtsied, "That would be me, Her Majesty Queen Naminé Strife the Radiant. Or, if you would like to just call me Naminé that is fine. You are Sir Roxas de Luz of Disney, correct?"

"Yeah..." Roxas said, looking at her again. She didn't _look_ that old, and Roxas had to bite his lip to keep from saying anything about her age. He couldn't tell how old she was by her appearance, but he could tell she wasn't much younger than himself.

"Shall we leave you alone now so you can recover?" The Queen asked, tilting her head slightly.

"No, that's alright. Unless you have business to attend to, since you're the Queen and all." Roxas said, taking a deep breath as he processed all of the information slowly. What was going on here? The redhead brought him back here? Why? He wasn't important--wasn't important enough to be saved like that.

She smiled and turned to the redhead, Alex or Felix or something, and said, "I think I shall stay here to make sure Sir Roxas de Luz of Disney is alright. I do have something to address to him as well, and I do not think your presence would make things better."

Alex or whoever sighed and then bowed his head, "Alright, alright, I'm leaving. Geez, what happened to the pushover?" He mumbled, the Queen glaring at him as he quickly left.

"You have something to tell me, Your Majesty?" Roxas asked, his headache feeling slightly better. But it still felt like someone dropped an anvil over his head. At least he could understand what the Queen was saying now, and it wasn't like communicating with someone underwater.

"Yes." The Queen nodded her head, her voice faltering slightly. However, she did not show her confidence, or rather, lack thereof, in her face, but it was as present as daylight in her voice. She hid it rather well, sugar-coating it with her sweet personality, but Roxas picked up on it quite easily, as in his younger years he wasn't the most confident kid himself.

"You're afraid you're not doing a good job as Queen. You're afraid you won't live up to your parents' names." Roxas said blankly, not realizing what he just said. It was sort of automatic, he could see that she held the same aspects of her personality that he held in his in his younger days. Though he had long since discarded care for what his parents thought of him.

"Huh?" The Queen seemed startled, and then her face fell. "O-Oh...you're right. Is it that obvious?"

"No, it's just..."Roxas shrugged, "I know how you feel. My parents belittled me because I am the youngest in my family. Even if it is by four minutes. But still, the rule is in Disney that the oldest gets all the inheritance from the family. So due to my parents' coddling of Sora," Roxas didn't bother to add in who Sora was; **everyone** knew the de Luz twins, they were practically celebrities, "I felt left out and ignored."

"We are both the same." The Queen smiled softly, "My parents never thought I would be a good Queen due to my 'pushover' personality, as Sir Axel puts it. I am trying to be strong, but it is really, truly very hard..."

"You're doing fine." Roxas smiled back at the Queen, then added, "So, what did you need to talk to me about, Your Majesty?"

The Queen smiled again, "Please, since you are not my subject, just call me Naminé. I cannot remember the last time someone has called me that."

"Alright, Naminé." Roxas said, having no problem with calling the Queen her regular name. She was right, after all, since Roxas showed no loyalty(at least, not _**yet)**_ to the Queen or the Kingdom of Square, he assumed it was alright to just call her Naminé.

"Now** that **is over..." She placed her hands in her lap and said, "I am so sorry to impose this onto you especially since you are recovering, but you realize you are a knight of Disney, correct?" When he nodded, she continued, "And you are in Square territory. You are considered dead in the land of Disney."

Roxas froze, trying to get his mind on the thought of _them_ crying over his supposed 'death', "Wait..**.**How do you know that?"

"It is common sense." Naminé said plainly, "If they did not find your body on the battlefield, the first thing to think of is that you died and Sir Axel threw your body into the sea. They have reason to think that because knights are not supposed to attack those of lower class, so to avoid shame Sir Axel would have to get rid of evidence that he ever attacked you. I assure you that is their thought pattern. Most don't follow the rules of chivalry, after all." She gave a weak smile.

Roxas bit his lip, and suddenly, his image of _them_ crying over him disappeared. He didn't like it at the Castle of Atlantica anyway, and no one really liked him. He could imagine maybe Melody or even Lady Ariel shedding a tear, but that was it. As for his brother and his parents, Roxas imagined them jumping for joy now that they got him out of the way. An intense loathing for them sprouted from this thought, one he couldn't shake. _'No one would miss me if I had died.'_ He thought bitterly.

"As it is now, your allegiance currently lies with the Disney Kingdom. But please," Naminé grabbed his hand again, the warmth of her hand bringing Roxas out of his bitter thoughts, "I would love nothing more than for you to switch your allegiance."

This took him by surprise. Someone actually _wanting_ him to fight for them? And a beautiful Queen, no less. "But I'm only fourteen! I barely started my training as a squire--"

"But yet you are a knight. Surely such a promising beginning will lead to a promising future, no?" Naminé said, then smiled, "I am sure Sir Axel will not mind teaching you all of the things you have missed out on, Sir Roxas de Luz of Disney."

"No." He shook his head, "Sir Roxas de Luz of Square."

She clasped her hands to her heart, gasping in surprise. She smiled gleefully, her grin reaching from ear to ear. Even _Roxas_ had to smile just seeing Naminé's expression. "Oh, do you really mean that, Sir Roxas de Luz? Really and truly?!"

"Really and truly." He said, nodding. He didn't think of the consequences his decision may have had right then. His parents probably wanted him dead anyway, that way they wouldn't look like creeps for not offering _anything_(many parents often ignored the rule) to Roxas and everything to their beloved **first son.** Who, by the way, was only older by a life-changing four minutes. Roxas would be able to understand if it was four years, but..**.** He bit his tongue just thinking about it. Not getting respect anywhere he had gone, at home, at Atlantica, just made him so mad! But he felt that being here would be different, which is one of the reasons why he accepted her offer.

"Oh, thank you, Sir Roxas de Luz! Now that you are my knight, you know of the ceremony in which I will officially knight you, right?" She asked, her eyes glittering with daydreams and fantasies.

"Ceremony? But..." Roxas frowned. Ceremonies with sparkles and celebration weren't his thing. But seeing the disappointed look on the Queen's face made him feel terrible. He couldn't help it, he had some sort of weak spot towards her and **that** face, so he said, "Oh, alright. I'll go through with your ceremony..."

"Oh, really?" The Queen smiled, "I promise you, that you will not look stupid! If anything, you will look _**so**_ handsome that all of the ladies in my castle are sure to drop dead for you!" She said, and then they both blushed scarlet.

"Including you, Your Majesty?" Roxas asked brazenly. He just had to, it was _begging_ to be asked. He could just use his headache as an excuse for acting a little out of line in front of a Queen.

Naminé blinked. As a Queen, she was taught not to hurt her disciple's feelings, so she had to say 'yes', but she didn't want to say the truth, either...Caught between this ambivalence stirring in her heart and mind, a call from a voice Roxas didn't recognize broke her away from her thoughts just when she was about to make her decision. "Oh, I will be there in a minute, Sir Xemnas! Sir Roxas de Luz, I shall see you later!"

As the Queen bid adieu and left in a rush, Roxas couldn't help but grin. _'A Queen thinks I'm hot...heh, wait 'till Sora hears about __this.'_

_Little did Roxas know, it would be years before he saw his brother's face..._


	4. The Fixed Destiny

Disclaimer: -sigh- No.

Wow, after forever and a day I've finally updated! Woohoo! =D After playing Re: CoM, I felt this extreme urge to go and write KH stuff. Teehee. I got Re: CoM for Christmas. What did you guys gets for the holidays? By the way, have a safe and happy New Year!

Oh, and, I just watched _Yes Man _with Jim Carey the other day; wow, it will CHANGE your LIFE. Besides, kudos to the directors for putting Jumper in there. Anyway, I recommend you go see it.

Special thanks to roxas-kh, summerIIfire (I love your username, by the way!), Stephen2462, Lady Rini, k2, Din's Daughter, .Nana Potato, Hikari inai kasumi, lebrezie, and of course, everyone else, too! Teehee.

P.S. So you don't get confused, whenever the story is in the **Disney** castle(i.e. scenes with Sora), 'The Queen' refers to Queen Minnie(unless I specify), and whenever it's in the **Square** castle(i.e. scenes with Roxas), 'The Queen' refers to Naminé. So you don't get confused. :D

The Black Thirteen

Stage the Third: **The Fixed Destiny**

_It had been two years since the younger's supposed 'death'. Curiously enough, in Disney castle, there were rumors stirring about a brigade of knights who were not traditional that followed the Queen of Square. The rumors stated that there were thirteen of them, so the people of Disney dubbed them 'The Black Thirteen'. By the time this rumor reached the older de Luz, his attention was not on the rumors, but clearly on something, or rather someone, else..._

The sixteen year-old squire of the Disney Kingdom had been in an oddly melancholy mood today. He had gotten over his brother's death, though it took him a full year to realize he was gone and there was nothing he could do about it. Sure, he and Roxas hadn't been the type of twins that held hands and wore the same exact shirt, but Sora would've liked to think they had been as close as twins were supposed to be.

King Mickey had tried to contact his parents, but they were gone. Without a trace. The whole castle, the entire fortune of the de Luz family, was left to him. Sora. With all of this suddenly tumbling upon his shoulders, Sora would often go into a melancholy state, where he would stare out at the window with a lost look in his blue eyes. Today was one such time, where Sora would reminiscence on the times he had with his family, however short.

Normally he would not have time to lament like this, but since his brother's death, Donald and the rest of the staff have been sympathetic towards him. He just thought it was a shame that none of his family would be there for the ceremony when he got knighted, a thing that was coming up in the next two years or so. Sora's thoughts ended when the door burst open, revealing a servant who looked quite flustered, as if the Queen had wanted to marry him.

Sora blinked, looking at the servant who had interrupted his brooding mood. "Yes?" He asked calmly, standing up and shaking his head slightly, as if to shake the thoughts out of his mind.

"Um..." The servant placed a hand on his hand, seeming to think. Sora sighed and sat back down; slumping in his chair. Another unsuccessful attempt to get him out of the castle. Normally he would appreciate the opportunity, because the times he got out of the castle and actually into the city were few and far between. But now, getting him out into the city was just an attempt by Their Majesties to get his mind off of his sorrow. Who wouldn't be sad? His entire family was just ripped away from him.

Then, the servant made a noise that sounded like he was choking. Sora glanced at the servant, to see him panicking and running around in circles. He stood up, and said, "Calm down, calm down! You're going to get a heart attack! I'll go outside, okay? Just stop that!" The way the servant was panicking made Sora nervous, like the sky was about to fall or something.

The servant stopped panicking, bowing in his gratitude. Sora sighed and walked out of his room. He supposed the fresh air wouldn't be too bad for him. Maybe seeing people would make him happier, or so he hoped. He hummed a happy tune as he exited the castle and began to walk the castle grounds, deciding not to go out to the city. However, as he passed one of the windows, out of the corner of his eye he caught something in the room. Looking at it closely, he could see that it was the same servant panicking to another panicking servant, whilst pointing at him. _'Geez, they are so annoying!'_ He thought, exhaling deeply and knocking on the window.

The servant ran up to the window, holding up a piece of paper that had something written on it. Sora frowned, crossing his arms. Was this some kind of insult? Everyone knew that most knights couldn't read or write much more than their name. Since they were soldiers, it was normally not a problem, but this was just irritating! He rolled his eyes, mouthing, 'Alright, I'll go!' to them. Then he saw the servants dancing together at his proclamation. How melodramatic .

Walking out to the streets, Sora was almost shocked at how life was bustling around him in all forms. In forms of trading, as seen by the peddlers on the streets trying to sell their wares to a spaced-out customer, in forms of entertainment, as seen by a juggler who was juggling thirteen oranges (and a banana) simultaneously much to the amazement of his crowd; in forms of anything. It was so sprightly out here in the streets, that Sora wondered why he ever wanted to be back in that humdrum castle with it's interminable activities, such as the painstaking **endurance training.**

He continued to hum a happy tune as he walked through the cobblestone streets of the city. It was a large city, but some parts of it were restricted for the aristocrats and parts of it were restricted for the peasants. When Sora had asked the King why this was, it was so that riots would not break out between the two classes. Absentmindedly whistling his way through the occupied people of Disney, his attention fell back down to Earth when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Glancing behind him, he saw it was a hunchbacked old man with an monocle who wanted his attention. Sora tilted is head, thinking, _'Ah! Why does an old man want me?'_

"Your...necklace..." The old man croaked, pointing a shaky, gnarled finger at Sora's necklace. Subconsciously, Sora touched it. The necklace the old man was talking about was his crown necklace. Of course, it _was_ Sora's most prized possession. He always wore it; it was a gift from his family on his seventh birthday. Come to think of it, Roxas didn't have a matching one, actually, now that the memory had dawned on Sora, Roxas hadn't received a gift at all. _'It doesn't matter now,'_ Sora thought dully, _'He's dead.'_

"Please...I wish..." The old man coughed again, covering his arm with a velvet flowing sleeve. He then pointed to a shop, where Sora read the sign.

It clearly read 'Appraisal'. Sora looked back down at his necklace and then looked at the old man. "You want to examine this?" He asked, and the old man nodded. His grip on Sora's shoulder was surprisingly tight, and he hobbled over to the shop and pushed Sora into the store. The old man following, he pointed his hand to the counter where an old woman stood.

"Is this your wife?" Sora asked, and the old man coughed out a 'yes', pushing Sora towards her. She had gray hair with streaks of caramel blonde, her hair thrown messily up into a bun with a bunch of strands sticking out of it. Though she was probably very beautiful when she had been younger, now her face was covered in wrinkles, but her eyes retained her earlier youth as well as kindness. Sora glanced back at the old man and then at his wife, thinking, _'I wonder if this is how my wife and I are going to look when we're older.'_ He then shuddered at the thought. Why wonder about the future? It was the moment, the present, that mattered.

"Oh, dear, I am so sorry, young man," The old woman said, taking his hand into hers, "But we are terribly poor and business has not been so good. We are so desperate my husband has just been taking people off the streets whom have good taste in jewelry. Now, may I see your necklace?"

"Ah..." Sora touched it, not wanting to take it off. He never usually did so, and he was afraid the old woman would steal it. He shook his head at the preposterous idea and then took his necklace off and handed it over to the woman, as the old man hobbled over and handed her his monocle. Using her husband's monocle, she examined Sora's necklace. He hoped she would be done soon, he felt strange without it on.

"Oh, amazing!" The woman said in shock, dropping her husband's monocle. "This is _orichalcum--_the most expensive and beautiful material in the world, and these chain links are just so..**.**You must be the son of a powerful lord.."

Sora nodded, wondering if he should state his name or not. Noticing the looks of slight hatred in sparking their eyes, he decided not to. Wondering how he should ask for it back, he was saved by the chime of the door, signaling that someone else had entered the appraisal shop.

"Excuse me," Spoke up a very lovely feminine voice, "Can you tell me how much th--oh, that pendant!" Sora looked to see who the newcomer was. Well, since he didn't get a full face view, he could say this: She had a _really_ nice profile. She had indigo eyes, cascades of silky auburn hair, and her smile was positively radiant. _'It's too bad I'm standing __**next**__ to her.'_Sora thought, cursing his bad luck.

"Oh, this?" The old woman looked at it, then looked at Sora, saying, "It's this young man's." She smiled slightly and handed it back to him.

"How much?" The girl demanded, turning to face him. She was a girl of small stature, Sora towering above her only about six or so inches. Or maybe he was just a tall kid for his age. The girl looked to be around his age, and it went without saying to say that she was stunningly beautiful. Sora was so caught up in his _gawking_, that the girl coughed loudly, and with a determined stare she demanded, "How much?" once more.

"Huh?" Sora blinked, then looked back down at the necklace, "O-Oh, it's not for sale." Her smile faded, looking terribly disappointed, as if she had just walked through a flooding town while raining. "I'm sorry, it's just..**.**special to me. My parents whom have supposedly passed on gave it to me as a gift. It's the only thing I have left of my family."

"Oh!" The old woman looked surprised, "You don't happen to live at Disney castle, do you?"

"Yes, I do," Sora said with a nod. The girl looked surprised, as did the old couple.

"_You're_ Sora de Luz?!?" All three shouted in his ear. Sora gulped, put the necklace back on(for safety measures) and nodded.

"Oh, oh my! I did not know we were in the presence of a future knight!" The old woman said, and bowed. Her husband bowed as much as he could as well.

"I knew I recognized the symbol," The old man wheezed, "The crown of..." He coughed again, waving his hands as if it were a signal for Sora to finish his sentence.

"Oh, you mean the symbol on our coat of arms? Yeah, the crown is the symbol of the de Luz family," He said, nodding. "Well, um, it was very nice to meet you all but I'm afraid I have to be getting ba--ack!" He practically choked when that girl grabbed onto his collar as he was walking away.

"Not so fast!" The girl said, Sora stopping and turning, wondering what she wanted. This girl had a lot of spunk, he liked that she wasn't a pushover like most girls. She was pretty, too, and that was a _major_ bonus. "I have a...um," She coughed and cleared her throat, "_errand_ to do at the castle, would you mind escorting me there after I'm done?"

"Of course not!" Sora replied, giving her one of his trademark grins. Which Sora had heard the female servants talk about in the castle once, that and his _gorgeous _azure eyes. Sometimes he just _loved_ how** loud** girls could talk.

"Okay, The girl said, and sighed, placing what she had originally wanted appraised on the counter. "Can you tell me how valuable this is? I don't really want to get rid of it, but if it's worth a lot..." She placed a shield on the counter. Sora knew a lot of knight's crests, but he hadn't seen one like that before. It was the mythical bird of fire, the phoenix, and it was rising from elaborately painted flames. It was quite a beautiful family crest, Sora was almost jealous that his was just a stupid crown that radiated light.

"Ah," The old woman ran her hands over the shield, and spoke, "This is a handful of years old--perhaps ten or twelve? This was a knight's, I presume your lover's or maybe your father's, and he died in battle? I can tell by the blood splatters."

The girl's face turned as red as her hair as she stuttered, "O-Oh no, no, no! I don't h-have a l-lover...at least, n-not yet..**.**I-I mean!" Her face turned even redder(if possible) as she tried to recover, "Um...it's...or, was, my brother's. He..." Her face fell, and she looked down, a tear dropping on the counter, "...all they found was his shield."

"If it makes you feel better," Sora said, able to empathize with the girl, "My twin died in battle, so I know how you feel." He placed a hand on her shoulder, as a form of comfort, hoping it wouldn't be too awkward since they just met and all. He didn't even know her name! But misery _did _love company. She sighed, and looked up at him, smiling sadly, the radiance of her smile dimming into a glimmer of a gloomy day. It was sort of weird, though, how both of their brothers' bodies were never found. Maybe it was a coincidence...

"My condolence is to you both," The old woman smiled to brighten up their moods, then looked at the shields. "Well, any piece of armor is costly...and since this has a very lovely design, so I'm thinking it would fetch for a very high price for collectors."

"Ah, thank you. How much?" The girl asked, taking out a small brown bag that jingled with munny, "I'll pay for you, too, Sir Sora de Luz."

"Oh, no," The old woman shook her head, "Just seeing the youthful again is all my husband and I need. Please, run along now, you two!" The wheezing old man shooed them out of the store.

Once out of the store, Sora looked to the girl, and finally mustered up enough courage to ask, "What's your name?"

"Oh, it's Kairi. Kairi Kasei." She smiled again, holding the shield tightly. "I guess we've both lost important things, huh? I'm glad I found someone who can understand the pain and..**.**" She trailed off, sighing heavily and adding, "depression I've been feeling."

"And how you sometimes go into a lamenting mode, just thinking about your memories with them. Yes, Miss Kairi Kasei, I know that feeling all too well," Sora said and sighed as well.

"Oh no," Kairi chirped with forced cheerfulness, "Please just call me Kairi!"

"Likewise," Sora said, giving her a grin. She looked amused for a moment, then perplexed.

"Why on earth would you want to be called Kairi?" She asked, and seeing her genuine expression, to see that she wasn't saying that just to be funny, was priceless. They looked at each other for a moment, then started laughing until their sides were about to fall off and they were tearing.

"I haven't laughed like that in a long time," Sora chuckled, wiping a tear away from his eye, "I like that you have a sense of humor. Disney Castle can be such a _**bore**_at times."

"Oh, well then, it's a good thing that we're going to be seeing each other often, Sora!" She said, her eyes as laughing and kind as her tone of voice. Sora wondered what she thought of him, but whatever it was, he hoped it was at least as _half_ as good as the things he thought about her.

"Huh? D-Did you j-just say...?" He asked, completely shocked. She wasn't going to be a..**.**oh no, Sora couldn't think like that! Her brother had been a knight, wasn't she an noble? Don't get Sora wrong, _**he**_ didn't care about the classes, but it was just that _**other**_ people did.

"Yes. My little 'errand' that I told you about earlier..**.**well, um, I'm actually applying for a position as a maid there! I thought that entering with you would earn me some brownie points." She said, looking at him to see what he thought. Sora looked slightly disappointed, and Kairi could tell he thought that she was an aristocrat. Quite sharply, she said, "I'm surprised. I thought you were above all of that talk of the importance of staying with your social class."

"No, Kairi, I'm not--"Sora didn't get to finish his sentence before she shook her head, an angry look on her face, as she stomped away. Sora sighed, looking crestfallen. _'Great. Now she thinks I'm a jerk!'_ He frowned. He wasn't, really, it was just that it was his _initial_ emotion. Geez, wasn't he allowed to show his surprise? Wondering how to get on her good side, Sora trudged through the rest of the city with a disheartening frown on his face. Sighing, he turned around, as he suddenly felt eyes bore into him. He looked around, seeing that no one was watching him. Looking up in the sky, he couldn't help as if he were being watched...

-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-∞∞∞-

"Roxas, Her Majesty wishes to see you." Came the monotone voice of one of Roxas' fellow knights. There were thirteen of them in all, including himself. They were all of the Queen's Knights, and one of them was also a body double for her when she wanted to get out of the castle.(Which was quite often, Roxas had learned to realize Naminé _**deplored**_ paperwork with all of her heart and soul)

"Huh?" Roxas lost his concentration, and losing your concentration when shining one's swords was not a good thing. "Ah--ow! Zexion, you have the _worst_ timing!" He shouted back to the person who had called to him through the door to his room. Which was quite fancy because he was the Queen's favorite(everyone knew it and hated him for it) out of the thirteen of her knights. Looking back at his now-bleeding hand(which had slipped when his concentration was lost thanks to Zexion), he sighed and knew the Queen would freak out if she even saw _bandages_. She hated people being hurt, so it was hard to believe that she was the Queen of a warring country.

Roxas sighed, bandaging his hand anyway and then placing his gloves on from his 'uniform'(which was nothing more than a black cloak. Honestly, the Queen was a _wonderful _artist but as far as fashion went she lacked creativity) which totally did not match the outfit he was wearing, but like he cared about how good he looked.

He placed his swords, which(of course) had both been given to him on his ceremony two years ago by the Queen herself, in their sheaths, he walked outside of his room. It had been discovered that he was ambidextrous, so he could wield a sword in each hand. It took a while getting used to, but eventually he felt more comfortable wielding two swords than one. As he walked outside, he saw his fellow knights walking around in the hallway where all of their rooms were.

Meeting him was not the brilliant Zexion (was there anything that kid did _not_ know?), but Roxas' best friend, Axel. At first, he was hostile towards anyone(_especially_ Axel) except for the Queen, he eventually warmed up to them all. "So, what's it like being the Queen's favorite?" The redhead, five years older than himself, asked.

Roxas laughed, "You guys are never going to let me live it down, huh?"

"Well..." Axel shrugged, "You should hear what she says when you're not around. Instead of making laws and making public appearances, she's always daydreaming about _you, _and half the time whatever she says is about _you_ and how you make fun of her."

"I-I don't make fun of her!" Roxas replied, crossing his arms, "It's just a reflex to some of the things she says; I can't help it!" He left the part out that he did it on purpose and he thought she looked adorable when blushing, but he thought he might save himself embarrassment by not telling Axel that. However, nothing got by the redhead.

Axel scoffed, "What a juvenile way of expressing your _deepest_ love for Her Majesty, Roxas. Tsk, tsk, I expected better out of you."

"I'm not in love! Not with Naminé!" He said, then thought over his words and said, "I mean, I'm not in love with _anyone._"

"Whatever you say, Roxas," Axel said and shrugged, having that smug look on his face as if he just won a fight. They both waved to Naminé's body double, Lady Larxene. However, she just blew them off and ignored them. Aside from being the Queen's body double, she was a knight. That's right. A knight. Larxene was probably the only female to be knighted in the entirety of the world, but no one said anything about it because it was Naminé's decision and one really _can't_ argue with the Queen. Larxene didn't look terribly like the Queen, but she did have blonde hair and blue eyes, they were just more vivid and brighter than the Queen's. If one didn't know Naminé well and didn't see her often, a person could easily mistake Larxene for an older version of her, so she often substituted for Naminé on the throne while the latter was out doing something.

Deciding that Roxas would give his friend a little payback, he asked with that smug look Axel had earlier, "So, what about you and Larxene? You guys have something going on?"

"Not really. It's just, she saved someone's life, that someone being one of the few I love. I owe Larxene a lot for that; she's not the type of person to stick her neck out for other people but she did it for me because she knew how important that person was to me," He said, and then added, "Other than that, there's no attraction whatsoever between us."

"But what about you and that someone?" Roxas asked, curious now. He hadn't meant to pry, but Axel really hadn't revealed a lot about himself. Since Roxas was a de Luz, everyone in Square knew his history: Has a twin brother, got separated from him at seven, knighted at fourteen, and currently in the Queen of Square's personal brigade of thirteen knights at sixteen. Roxas didn't want to boast, but being knighted at fourteen _was_ quite an accomplishment.

The redheaded knight laughed, "Oh, it's not like **that.** Heh, that would be one _**hell**_ of a twisted story if we were." Axel scratched his neck and chuckled, shaking his head at the idea. Roxas decided to pry no more, figuring he could ask Naminé or someone else. Either way, he knew he'd find out sooner or later.

Reaching to the throne room, Axel and Roxas' conversation came to an end as they entered the room. "Why are you escorting me, anyway?" Roxas just had to ask, as going to the throne room wasn't like a life-threatening journey.

"Her Majesty wanted to tell me something, too." Axel said, as they both reached the Queen. Axel bowed out of respect for her position, but Roxas didn't since he was on a more familiar level with her. The privileges of being favored...

"Is something wrong, Naminé?" Roxas asked, standing beside her while Axel quickly followed suit to stand on the other side of the throne.

"Well, I just happened to be scrying recently--"

"Scrying?" Axel asked, "Is that some kind of occult summoning art or something?"

"It's Naminé's way of seeing events that are happening elsewhere," Roxas explained, "She can do it through glass or a mirror or some other sort of source. In a way, it _is_ an occult summoning art. The Queen does have 'powers' after all."

"No, I do not have powers, Roxas," Naminé answered sharply, crossing her arms and glaring at him, "The only thing I can do is scry and summon Aeons like the High Priestesses Yuna and Lenne. Of course, I am not as skilled as them, but..**.**Anyway, I wanted to tell you two that I saw something interesting while scrying."

"Something involving both of us?" Roxas asked, raising an eyebrow. There were not a lot of things in the world that pertained to both Axel and Roxas. They may be best friends, but they weren't a lot alike.

"It would be easier to just show it to you. If you will, please follow me." Naminé got up from her seat and walked into the back room which were her chambers, which _no one_ but her maids were allowed into. Of course, if she gave permission to enter, that was a different thing...

"Wow. Talk about _luxury _with an extra 'uxury'," Gaped Axel, looking about the Queen's room. It was all white, but very beautiful and serene at the same time. Delicate white lace and ribbons were everywhere, and it just screamed 'feminine' despite the mellow atmosphere. Naminé walked over to her closet door, which was actually made out of a mirror instead of wood; an excellent source for scrying.

"Are we going to be able to see?" Roxas asked, and the Queen nodded, and turned around with a glare on her face. _'What's with her today? She's always so...friendly to me. Now it looks like as if I've stabbed her in the back or something.'_

"Are you doubting my abilities, Sir Roxas?" She asked sharply, placing her hands on her hips. He scratched his head and then looked at Axel, who could barely keep himself from laughing. Roxas growled and kicked him in the shin, because it was all probably that accursed redhead's doing!

"Axel, what did you say to the Queen!" He asked, a touch of anger to be found in his voice. Well of course he would be mad, the Queen and he were best friends!(aside from Axel and he, of course) (And, much to his aggravation, everyone else thought they were _something more_. Although it would be a loss not to go out with such a beautiful girl, she was the _Queen_ and he was considered _dead_ in Disney, so he wasn't sure how, if they ever 'went out', the people would take his sudden reappearance into the world, especially Sora, if he had not died himself)

"It's not what _I _said, Roxas. Besides, you told me yourself that you didn't care about the Queen, so what would it matter to you?" Axel said, a smirk on his face.

"Get your ears checked, Axel; I didn't **say** that!" He snapped back angrily, "**I** happen to care a lot about the Queen," He sighed, then turned to Naminé, "which is why I am going to let her show us what she wanted to show us."

Her Majesty nodded, a small smile on her face as she turned to the mirror and placed a hand on it. She mumbled some ancient words Roxas couldn't understand, and then the mirror glowed as she took her hand away. "Watch."

_They were getting an overview of the entire city of Disney and the castle. Then, the mirror zoomed in some more to reveal it's focus: a brunette bearing __**much**__ resemblance to Roxas. However, he was accompanied by an auburn-haired girl carrying a shield around that had the crest of Axel's family._

" _Yes. My little 'errand' that I told you about earlier..__**.**__well, um, I'm actually applying for a position as a maid there! I thought that entering with you would earn me some brownie points." The auburn-haired girl said to the brunette, whom Roxas identified as Sora. They saw Sora look at the girl as if all of his hopes and dreams had been crushed, and then she snapped, "_ _I'm surprised. I thought you were above all of that talk of the importance of staying with your social class." _

"_No, Kairi, I'm not--" Sora started, but the girl had already run on ahead. They saw him sigh in despair and continue on_ _his way. However, before the image started to fade, they saw him turn around and look _straight_ at them. He then sighed, and turned around, "Man, I must be going crazy because now I think I'm being watched by Roxas or someone..."_

"So Sora still thinks of me, huh?" Roxas mused, then bowed to Naminé, hoping that sucking up would get him on her good side again. She was a quiet girl, but her bad side was _not_ a good place to be. Though, honestly, he didn't really care about _what_ Sora was doing--he had a lot of pent-up anger for his brother, but he wasn't about to ruin this moment by saying so and making her hate him_ even more._ "Thank you, Your Majesty, for showing this to me. But how does it pertain to Axel? I saw that girl carrying a shield with your family crest on it..**.**is she your sister?"

Axel shrugged, "Maybe. Who knows? I've never seen her before in my life. I didn't think I had a sister, but maybe my parents slept around a lot and I never knew it."

"That's weird..**.**" Roxas stated, having a feeling there was more than what Axel was letting on, "Maybe you have a secret admirer that has a copy of your shield because she's so **en amor** with you."

"There's an idea," Axel said, and shrugged, "Somehow I get the feeling she's more of a stalker, this 'Kairi' girl. But hey, if she's a secret admirer, I'm not complaining. Thanks for showing us, Your Majesty." He then bowed and left the room.

"Is Axel lying?" Roxas whispered a while after he left. The Queen gave him a look that let him know he overstepped his boundaries. '_Geez, what is it with girls?'_ He wondered, wondering why one of his best friends(Axel being the other) was acting so odd towards him. Thinking of asking Lady Larxene later on why Naminé was suddenly acting cold towards him, he awaited Her Majesty's response.

It was almost hard to believe, that the Queen was just a fifteen year-old girl, standard teenaged girl had she not have royalty running through her veins. Trained to never betray any emotion, she somehow always opened up around Roxas, and for that, the other knights were jealous. They suspected and speculated over many possibilities over why Naminé would hold Roxas in such high respects, while she held others, such as one of her father's royal retainers, Xigbar, in regards a stage lower. Whatever the reason, Roxas found himself being glad that he was so close to the Queen. As friendly and compassionate as she was, yet shy and withdrawn at times, it was not a hard thing to do, and he was almost shocked that they all didn't have a relationship like theirs.

"I never knew you liked to pry into other people's lives, Roxas. I am _quite_ surprised," Naminé said, then added, "I am not at liberty to say anything about Axel's personal life. I do not approve of prying, and as such, I will not help someone do it." She gave him a 'tsk, tsk' look and crossed her arms. Although she was mad, Roxas couldn't help but find she looked quite cute in her outrageous gown with more lace than he had _ever_ seen in his lifetime, long flowy sleeves with intricate designs, and the magnificent crown placed on top of the waves of flaxen-blond locks. But to be honest, she looked better when she dressed up in simpler designs.

"Naminé..." Roxas said with exasperation, wondering why she suddenly hated him so much, "Whatever I did to you to offend you or hurt you so much, I'm sorry. I don't even know what I did! If you could tell me what I did, then I could apologize properly for it. Whatever Axel told you, he's lying. He has a hobby for making my life miserable because he has nothing bette to do--remember the time he told Zexion _I_ was the one who burnt down his library?"

She laughed at the memory, then smiled again, and Roxas somehow knew all was forgiven.(although he didn't do anything wrong in the first place) "Oh, that is alright. I can never stay mad at you for too long, Roxas."

Oh yes, it was _definitely_ good to be the favorite.

* * *

For some reason I can't explain (I know St. Peter won't call my name~), I really DON'T like how this chapter turned out. -sigh- Oh well, life must go on!

By the way, I have a feeling this story is going to be really...really...REALLY long. So if you guys don't like really really REALLY long stories then you might want to get off this roller coaster before the action starts kicking in!

Anyway, have a safe and happy New Year guys!


	5. The Reflection of Derised

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Natasha Bedingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine, nor do I own anything else.

The Black Thirteen

Stage the Fourth: **The Reflection of Derised**

__

A battle is imminent any time soon.

___Both Kingdoms are on edge, waiting for the other to strike the first blow. In times like these, people should be just as anxious as the rulers. The class of knights especially should be on edge. However, two such of the class, the de Luz brothers, were concerned on **other** matters..._

"Kairi!" Sora knocked on her door again, his knuckles red from knocking on the door so much. She had not been answering the door since she had rushed inside the castle. "Kairi, please talk to me!" He said, almost in a begging tone. Normally girls would be dreaming of the chance of having _Sora_, one of the most adorable boys around(not to mention heir to an insane amount of wealth _and_ a person that was very famous due to his family's reputation), beg to _them._ Kairi was in a position that many girls would die for. She sure was taking advantage of it, too.

"Please!" It had been what, an hour or two she's been stuck in there? Sighing, he placed his forehead against the door, not knowing how to get Kairi to look at him. He wondered why he even cared, but he just _did_. He felt like an idiot with how he had completely blown it; he supposed he wanted to rectify his mistake. Well, at least Kairi didn't care about his status, because if she did, then she would know that he would probably be able to influence the King to fire her. Of course, he'd never do that, even if he hated Kairi. Which he _certainly_ didn't.

He suddenly heard panicked footsteps from down the hall, and bit his lip, wondering if he should leave the door and go see what was up. Kairi could always sneak out and run away if he left there, but Sora needed to know what was going on. He was going to be a protector one day; he had the right to get into everybody's business. However, before he went to see what the commotion was about, the commotion came to him. It was three or four panicked servants mixed in with a couple of maids. Their hair was all over the place and their faces were red and they were panting, giving off the impression that they were rabid, and Sora caught himself half-expecting them to foam at the mouth any minute.

"Lord Sora! Their Majesties have something to discuss with you!" The four servants all said simultaneously, as if this has been rehearsed.

Sora glanced back at Kairi's door, then at the exhausted faces of the servants/maids. Shaking his head, he leaned his back against Kairi's door. However, as he did that, she just happened to open the door. Sora, not feeling anything supporting his back, glanced back and stumbled backwards(in seemingly slow motion), falling on top of the auburn-haired girl. Their faces both turned **bright** red, and they remained like that for awhile before Sora's brain finally started to function again, and he got off of her, holding out a hand to her.

"S-So-Sorry, I-I di-di-didn't k-know y-y-you w-were t-there..." He spluttered, his embarrassment taking control of his vocal chords and making him stutter like a fool. The brunette mentally cursed himself. Why was he such a failure around girls? Saint Nomura gave him everything; personality, looks, status, but the Saint didn't give him the charisma and charm he needed! How was he supposed to be a knight in shining armor when--Sora exhaled, releasing all of his momentary anger at the Saint with the breath. _'Saint Nomura, I'd love you forever if you give me an opportunity to make it up for Kairi!'_

"Y-Yeah, o-okay..." Kairi said, as embarrassed as he as she took his hand, stood up and averted her eyes, locking them on the floor as if something interesting lie there. However, she didn't let go of his hand, and it didn't seem like either noticed that they were still holding hands. The maids, obviously appreciating this little display of accidental affection, didn't want to ruin anything by pointing it out.

"As we have said, Lord Sora," Said another maid who kept on glancing at their hands and giggling, "Their Majesties wish to see you."

"Lord?" Kairi questioned, turning her head so she was 'looking' in his direction. However, her eyes still did not meet his.

"Yeah, what's my new title about?" Sora asked, confusion displayed in his facial expression as well as his tone.

"That is what Their Majesties wish to discuss with you. If you would, follow us," They said, walking away. Sora began to follow, but stopped when he realized Kairi wasn't coming.

"Kairi, aren't you coming?" He asked, turning to look at her. She looked up at him, her face still having a tint of red splashed across her cheeks.

"Oh, no. The conversation you have with Their Royal Majesties is yours alone. Unless," Kairi grinned, her smile full of radiance that would make the sun green with jealousy, "You want me to come?"

"Of course! After all, they'll give you brownie points for entering with me, right?" He said, grinning as she laughed and suddenly, they both realized they were holding hands.

"Oh!" They both exclaimed, their blush returning to their faces. However, when they were about to say something, most likely going to embarrass themselves further, the servants and fellow maids(like Kairi--wow it was so hard for Sora to believe she was going to be working here!) came to them.

"It wouldn't do you well to keep the King and Queen waiting!" Said a maid. Her high-pitched, squeaky voice snapped both of them out of whatever dreamy daze they were in.

"Yeah, let's go, Kairi," Sora said, grasping her wrist and pulling her towards the throne room. He had wanted to show around the castle and give her a 411 on everything she could possibly be curious about, but these stupid maids/servants were ruining his chance of doing so! Sighing, he supposed his tour with Kairi could wait.

-

"Your Majesties." Once they had arrived at the throne room, all the servants, maids, and Sora bowed deeply to the mouse-resembling King and Queen of Disney. Had they not been King and Queen and deserved better respect than assumptions, Sora would have assumed they _were_ mice.

"Sora, we have very important news to relay to you," The King said, walking over to him, then noticing Kairi, and looking surprised. "You must be the girl who applied for a position as a maid here!"

"Yes, um," Kairi glanced at Sora and then said, "Lord Sora de Luz recommends me for the job!"

"Y-Yeah!" Sora said, nodding his head, "Yeah, um...she's actually a childhood friend of mine. Used to cook and clean at my parents' manor! Yeah, it'd be a loss for all of Disney if you didn't hire her." He laughed, hoping they didn't see through his lie. If it was one thing that was awful about Sora, it would be that he was a _terrible_ liar. Then again, that might be a good thing, since knights weren't really _supposed_ to lie, but Sora supposed it was just a little _white_ lie. What harm could it do?

"Then we will make sure to add that when we look over your application, Miss Kasei. Lord Sora, we have upsetting news to reveal to you," The Queen said, a disheartening expression on her face. But Sora was ready to meet whatever bad news they were going to crank out. His brother was dead, his parents were missing...he was positive that his family situation could only get better from this point.

"We found your parents' bodies. It was murder, unfortunately. We found a letter on top of your mother's body, clasped in her hands. We did not read it, but you can whenever you wish," The King said, handing the letter to Sora.

To save himself from embarrassment, he pretended to read it. He didn't know how to read, but maybe he'd get Kairi to teach him later. That would be even _more _embarrassing, but he had to know what his parents wrote to him. He didn't want anyone to read it out loud to him, because the message inside was for his eyes and for his alone. After he pocketed the letter, he looked up and waited for Their Majesties to speak.

"Now you are appointed to Lord status. This means that you can disband your quest of becoming a knight and, as the letter describes, retire back to your manor," The Queen said quietly, "However, if you do wish to become a knight, then the King and I will hold your land until you are married and can have a lady to watch over the house."

"I see..." Sora bit his lip, then looked up and said, "No. I have to become a knight. Maybe my father wanted me to live a nice, cushiony life in luxury, but there are **other** people's memories I have to honor. Even if they seemed to have hated him, he's still my brother. I have to become a knight because he never could."

Kairi smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I think that's the right thing to do, Sora," She whispered, nodding her head in approval.

The King winked at Sora(who then blushed) and said, "Alright, please do not tell anyone of anything that was just discussed. We will look over your application once more, Miss Kasei. Lord Sora, I'm sure you wouldn't mind escorting her around the castle?"

"It would be my honor, Your Majesty!" Sora said, bowing again and letting a grin spread over his features. Taking Kairi's arm in his, he spun around and said to her, "Shall we, Miss Kasei?"

Kairi giggled and smiled, saying, "Yes we shall, my lordship."

Once they exited the throne room, she said, "It must be luxurious, living the life of a knight who is going to become famous one day. Special treatment from the King; everyone loves you..." Kairi sighed, "It must be bliss."

Sora grinned and replied, "It must be bliss being a pretty girl like you." Kairi blushed slightly, and then looked at him.

"It must be bliss having all of the maids drool over you!" She returned, sticking her tongue out as she thought that Sora possibly couldn't come up with a retaliation. But she was underestimating the squire--now Lord. A priceless grin spread across her face, she waited for a response that she thought would never come.

"Well, that must include you, right?" Sora asked, matching her grin and giving his own award-winning, trademark, goofy grin. He had overheard the maids talk about his picture-perfect smile. With the way they talked so highly of him (and how he overheard them often), Sora was surprised he wasn't a self-egotistical jerk by now. Perhaps the death of his family kept him humble.

"N-No, I..." Kairi frowned, realizing he had just trapped her. No, wait, maybe not. Her grin returning to her face, she replied, "Well, what if it does?"

"Then..." Sora racked his mind for a response, "I'd have to tell you that I think you're pretty attractive, too. But that's only_ if_ you drool over me. ...You don't, right?"

Glancing at each other, they both started to laugh at how ridiculous they were being. Besides, Sora couldn't help but feel as if Kairi was an attractive individual, even if their social classes clashed. Who really cared about marrying within their own class anymore? Sora didn't want to marry some airheaded ditz who only wanted him because he could buy her expensive jewelry or would make a great trophy husband. That would be awful.

"Oh, Sora, you're so funny," Kairi said, giggling slightly, "I really hope I can stay here. I couldn't **stand** where I used to live." Her face turned serious as she shuddered slightly. The laughter out of her eyes had been completely drained, and her face turned slightly pale. Sora frowned, and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, that's all over now," He said in a soothing voice, knowing that something terrible must have happened to her in the past. The way all of her vivacity had just disappeared at the mention of where she used to live was a giveaway. He wasn't going to pry into her personal life; when she told him, she told him. "Whatever had happened to you in the past, I **swear** I won't let it happen to you again."

"Promise?" She asked, looking up at him, the life returning to her once more. Like watching winter explode with life as it turns to spring. Truly a sight to behold, just like Kairi. Breathtaking.

_'Wow, she's **really **pretty.'_ Sora thought, knowing he had established that fact sometime in the appraisal shop. But he just needed to reinforce it, because..._wow. _It was almost like she **wasn't human**. But that was impossible; the only people he had met with inhuman-like qualities lived at the Disney castle.

"Sora!" Kairi said a bit loudly, stopping and looking at him so he snapped out of wonderland, "Promise?"

"Huh?" Sora blinked, and then he knew that Saint Nomura answered his prayers; giving him an opportunity to be charismatic. _'Thank you Saint Nomura, thank you!_' He mentally exclaimed. Sora was _never_ going to fall asleep in church _ever_ again.

Sora knew that this was his opportunity to be **chivalrous** like a knight, like all of the stories he read about, about all of the knights in shining armor slaying foul beasts for a fair maiden in distress. Even when he had been little, he always wanted to be a knight in shining armor and people would tell stories about him. Roxas hadn't been interested in that kind of stuff as much. But, anyway, that all didn't matter since Roxas was dead.

If he was going to do this, he was going to do this _right. _Kneeling down, he took her hand and looked up into her sparkling indigo eyes, "On my honor as your faithful knight, Miss Kairi Kasei, I give you my word that I will not let any harm befall you." Kissing her hand and letting go of it as it flopped to her side. Standing up, he noticed that her face could not _possibly_ get any more red than it already was. For a moment, Sora actually thought he said something wrong.

It took Kairi awhile(honestly, Sora felt like he had been standing there for _months)_ to snap out of her stupor, but when she did, she smiled radiantly and said, "Thank you." The sincerity of her words just made Sora smile as well. Now he was sure that _this_ was what a knight was all about. Being some girl's knight in shining armor and sticking up for the one that everyone was against.

"Well, I have to show you around the castle now!" Sora grasped Kairi's hand, and hand in hand, they began his tour around the castle.

* * *

"Your Majesty!" The throne room doors were shoved open by two very tan nobles, clad head to toe in garb that made them look as royal as the one they were speaking too. Naminé, currently seated at the throne with Roxas standing beside her, leaned forward slightly to hear the nobles, "We've received terrible news from Sanubia!"

_'Sanubia?_' Roxas questioned to himself, remembering he had heard of that place once, '_Oh right, it's a place in Bikanel Island. It's a small island in between the two continents, but the island has spilt alliances. Or so I heard, anyway._' Not wanting to say anything because Roxas really didn't remember the situation over at the island, he looked at the Queen, whom gasped.

"Oh no!" She said, sounding distraught, "What happened?!"

"Princess Rikku got kidnapped!" One of them replied in a thick accent, saying, "_Druca pycdyntc; gethybbehk uin Bnehlacc_!"

Roxas rose an eyebrow at the different language; then remembered that back at the Castle of Atlantica his teacher had taught him that on Bikanel they used a different language, called 'Al Bhed'. However, since Bikanel was spilt territory(and not many people visited there since it was mostly all desert), his teacher had only really gotten into the basics. Roxas could say 'hello', 'nice to meet you', and 'goodbye', but that was all his capabilities got into to. He could barely understand the language, let alone speak it.

"_Ed'c ymnekrd, E bnuseca_ Rikku _femm pa ugyo! Tu oui ghuf fru gethybbat ran_?" Naminé replied, looking to the two men. She then gave Roxas a look of an apology; she somehow knew he was feeling left out. But he trusted the Queen, so he knew that she wasn't plotting to kill him or insulting him behind his back to these nobles or anything.

"It was _Gippal!_" The other one shouted(and Roxas was really quite glad they were speaking in a language he could understand this time), looking absolutely angry, "We _know_ it was him!"

"Prince Gippal?" Naminé tilted her head and then said, "Ah! I'll make sure Rikku is returned to Sanubia safely. I will send my knights to retrieve her, and as soon as they make it there safely; I will alert you of her condition."

The two bowed and then quickly rushed out of the room as quickly as they had, murmuring words of gratitude to the Queen. As soon as they were sure the nobles was out of earshot, Naminé turned to Roxas and said, "Bikanel Island is an island between Disney and Square, and we each have allied with half of it. Princess Rikku is the Princess of the half that is allied with us, while Gippal is the Prince of the half that allied with Disney. It seems that Princess Rikku has been kidnapped by Prince Gippal. Roxas, I really hate to impose anything of you..."

He sighed, _how_ did he know the Queen was going to ask him of this? "...But you want me to go." When she nodded, he sighed again, and immediately she adopted an apologetic look.

"Roxas, please believe me when I tell you I offer my deepest condolences, but you are one of the few I honestly trust," She said, her words full of sterling quality. Roxas had to grin at that, and he felt prideful. The _Queen_ trusted _him_ the most?

"Alright, Naminé." It wasn't like Roxas could just _say_ no to the **Queen,** her ruling went above all else. "But, it's dangerous to send all of us. It would leave you unprotected." He would rather stay by her side, but he knew that she had to be her eyes and ears in Bikanel.

"I am thinking of sending just you and Axel. He is well adjusted to the heat and his senses are keen as well; especially his eyesight. I believe he will be of great help to you. Besides, you both are friends," Naminé said calmly, as if she had already known this was going to happen and planned it beforehand.

"_A-Axel?!_" Roxas spluttered, his eyes widening slightly, "Useful? Naminé, I think you may be mistaking him with someone else..." Axel and he joked around constantly. There was never a time when he saw the redhead serious, _or_ useful(except for the purpose of jokes).

She smiled softly, folding her hands on her lap. "He may be your best friend, but I am afraid there is _a lot_ you do not know about him." Then, she tilted her head as her smile adopted a sadness to it, "He keeps a cheerful front, but inside he has been wounded deeply."

Roxas frowned. He was going to ask Naminé what she meant, but he decided that Axel or even she would tell him sooner or later. _'He's been...wounded deeply.'_ He repeated her words in his head. It didn't seem possible that Axel could be 'wounded deeply'; but the Queen did not lie.

"So...when do we leave?" He asked, crossing his fingers and hoping that she would just laugh and say, 'Just kidding! You're not going anywhere!' Being in a desert was somewhere he did _not_ want to be. He just wasn't used to the harsh climate. The Castle of Atlantica had been surrounded by plenty of springs, waterfalls, and lush vegetation.

"Hmm," She seemed to think for a moment, then hopped off the throne. "Follow me." She walked out of the throne room, and towards the library. He followed her, curious as to how a library could pertain to Sanubia. Maybe it was time to read up on history.

To say that the library was the biggest thing he had ever seen would be an understatement. It had everything you could ever ask for: to Naminé's favorite picture books when she was a child, all the way to a giant history book containing all of the events that had occurred up until today. In fact, there were some scribes over at a table who noticed the Queen; bowing in respect before sitting down and scribbling madly down on their pieces of parchment. There were some comfortable-looking chairs scattered about the massive place, all accompanied with tables that had an oil lamp on them. They saw Zexion sitting at a table and playing a game of chess with Lexaeus, but it seemed that the latter was losing quite badly due to the fact that Zexion was reading a book while waiting for the taller man to make his move.

Zexion _was_ hard to beat at chess. Or at anything requiring intelligence for that matter. Roxas always considered himself smart, but when you met Zexion, it was like you were talking to a person who belonged on a higher plane. The guy was _so_ intelligent that it was uncanny. He actually learned how to read _by himself_; and he even taught Naminé and Larxene, too! No wonder he was not only the Queen's knight, but her tactician as well. Zexion looked up to see both blondes, and they waved at him. He just nodded his head in return, and turned back to the chess board.

They continued on, and saw Lady Larxene sitting on a deep forest-green chair, reading Marquis de Sade. She didn't seem to notice them, so the Queen quickly hurried on. Past experiences told Roxas to not bother Larxene while she was reading, because that resulted in either a bloody nose, black eye, or both.

Finally, the blonde Queen made her way to where all the maps and atlases were located. There was a table right in the middle of the space that all of the bookshelves made, with a bright light shining on it from a nearby lamp. The Queen taking the liberty to blow the lamp out; as she didn't want it to tip over and the whole thing to burn down(Naminé had told him something like that would have happened in the past if it weren't for Axel who was miraculously in there at the time--though Roxas wondered what that meant. Did that mean that Axel...?). On the table was a world map, and she gestured to it. "Here is Bikanel Island."

"Sanubia's a place in Bikanel, right?" Roxas asked, looking at the map. It was closer to the capital of Square; where they were now, than to the capital of Disney, where his supposedly Satanic brother lived. He guessed it probably took two weeks or so to get there by boat if the weather permitted.

"You need not worry about it, Roxas. It all began over the dispute over Home and which Al Bheds, those that live in Bikanel, were going to live there. Home is the name of the shelter for everyone living in the harsh climates, but sometime back, my ascendants were quite greedy. They wanted to kick out those allied with Disney out of Bikanel, since it was closer to our territory and should be our property. But those who allied themselves with Disney resented us for kicking them out of Home, and now the Al Bhed are allied on different sides because of it. Although, our side has still retained Home, but we hear attacks from Home, saying that the Al Bhed allied with Disney want entrance to their ancestors' home and are willing to fight for it."

Knowing that she had just given a history lesson involuntarily, she added, "Since the island is under spilt alliances and because of the issue of Home, that calls for constant fighting. I suspect that is why Prince Gippal kidnapped the Princess; to stop all the fighting."

"So what you want Axel and me to do is somehow reconcile the two nations using our charming personalities and dashing good looks?" Roxas asked, grinning. She gave him a quizzical look which made him burst out in laughter. The expression on her face was purely _priceless._ He couldn't describe the expression on her face--but it was definitely something he wished he could have captured on paper.

"Now matter how charismatic and handsome you both think you are, I think it is going to take a _little_ more than that to make two countries that have been at war for _years_ to establish peace. All I am really aiming for is to make sure that the Princess is well-established in Bikanel."

"You..." He looked rather surprised, "...don't want us to rescue her or anything?" No damsels in distress? No knocking down fire-breathing dragons? No...nothing?

"Not necessarily, no." The Queen tapped her chin for a moment, and then tilted her head and said, "You see, what I think is that if Prince Gippal kidnapped her in order to stop the fighting, then that means he is willing to conciliate with Sanubia. If I could leave the throne in order to go myself, I would, but I cannot."

"Let me get this straight: You want us to trek _all the way_ down to Bikanel, check up on the Princess, and then come back here?" Roxas rose an eyebrow. No valiant rescue attempts? _Nothing? _Here he was, hoping for some action, too.

"I also want you to deliver a letter I shall write later to King Cid." Naminé bit her lip, and Roxas could have sworn that he saw tears glistening in her eyes, "I want to stop this war more than anything, Roxas. Even if it is making peace between two nations every year, I want this to **stop.** I know there will always be people who will hate Disney...but eventually, this war is going to take a toll on King Mickey and myself and something _terrible_ is going to happen to both you _and_ your brother. If this does not stop I will be forced to send you out to war and--"

"Naminé," Roxas moved over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. It would be too awkward if he embraced her. Especially since he could see that the scribes from that table were watching them keenly. Even if Roxas was well-known and at the higher end of nobility, he and the Queen were from completely different classes. It would be kind of _forbidden_ for him to offer nothing more than a hand on the shoulder, a smile, and some comforting words.

Before he got to say any of those comforting words, however, she just shook her head and took a step away from him. Clearing her throat, she looked up at him, her eyes all dry. It looked like she had perfected the art of controlling her emotions, as was expected of one of the royal family. She had to be strong for her country, she had to be the column in which everyone could depend upon. But there was only so much weight a column could bear before it started to crumble, and Roxas didn't want to see her break down. Although, she was mentally strong, and he didn't think she would break that easily. Even if she did look rather fragile, like a doll. "At any rate, the time taken to travel to Sanubia is around two weeks or so, depending on the weather. Some scholars I have spoken to earlier predicted that the weather be nice and sunny and the sea calm."

"So we're leaving tomorrow then, right?" Roxas said, with almost a sigh. He didn't want to go, but since he _had_ to, he might as well get it over with. Besides, Axel was going, too. It wasn't like it was going to be painstakingly boring if his best friend was there with him.

"Hmm?" She blinked, looking surprised, then shook her head, "No, of course not! I need to go over these plans with the rest of my knights, my royal retainer--" He zoned out when she began to list some people he didn't know or cared about, but then zoned back in when she was done listing the people, "--I also must write that letter and that should take at least a day or so. You should go to Axel and tell him what I have just told you. You both should start preparing. Hopefully it will not be a long trip; it should only take about a month if time is used to it's prime and the sea continues to be calm. There is also a matter I must take up with the Captain of the boat you will be riding on. The seas have been notoriously rough lately, and not to upset you or anything, but--"

"There's been this rumor that there's this giant kraken type monster lurking underneath the surface." Turning around to see who had interrupted her, it was none other than everyone's favorite redhead, Axel. Their favorite only because he was the _only_ redhead they all knew, if you exclude what's-her-face who was hanging out with Roxas' brother. "Yo," Axel waved at them both.

"Oh! Axel, how long have you been here?" The Queen asked, stepping forward.

"When _you_ announced your secret," Axel said, raising an eyebrow. Roxas turned to Naminé, confusion written on his face. What secret had she divulged to him? He didn't remember anything, unless she had said something about Bikanel he wasn't supposed to know?

The Queen turned scarlet, and she said, her tone hurried and panicked, "Wh-What secret d-did I-I tell?!" It was cute to see the Queen all flustered like that, since she was normally so calm and composed.

The redhead chuckled at this. "You _didn't._ But judging by your reaction, you _do_ have a secret, little miss Queen."

Naminé looked rather shocked at first, and then she narrowed her eyes as her face grew red. Not in embarrassment this time, but in anger. Axel seemed to be awaiting her temper exploding--but it never came. The Queen wasn't the type to let her temper snap.

"You may think what you wish," She said calmly. It was hard to believe that she could regain her composure so quickly, "but I assure you that I have nothing to hide."

"You know, Axel, you sure like to pry into other people's dirty laundry. I don't see you showcasing any pieces of _your _past," Roxas said, crossing his arms.

Axel held Roxas' gaze for a moment, then mimicked him and crossed his arms as well, and closed his eyes. "Well. My name is Axel, I have red hair, green eyes, am incredibly handsome and have a personality to _die_ for; every woman wants to be with me and every guy wants to be best friends with me, which means you're very lucky, Rox, and I like to tell people they need to commit things to memory because I have an obscene fear of amnesia." He opened an emerald eye and then asked, "Got it memorized?"

"But everyone knows that Larxene hates you--" Roxas started, but the Queen held up a hand to signal that the blonde knight was getting a bit out of line.

"That is enough, Roxas. I am sure you would mind us prying into your personal life," She said, and then smiled slightly and, in an attempt to make the situation lighter, added, "Or else your life must be boring." She laughed slightly, and Axel chuckled as well. Roxas smiled and even laughed a little. He loved hanging out with the Queen and Axel; they always knew how to make him laugh. But now that Naminé was getting older, apparently her responsibilities as a Queen were getting to be more of a burden and she couldn't just relax that much as she did when she was younger.

But what really got Roxas annoyed was that they(meaning the scholars and retainers and whomever else aided in rule 'behind the scenes') were trying to push _marriage_ onto her all so that Square could have a King and that rule could be shared. It wasn't that he didn't _want _her to be married off or anything (Come on, why would he care? He was just her knight.), but he had seen some of the candidates the retainers wanted her to marry. Half of them were over forty. The other half were asinine jerks that seemed as stupid as their name sounded. One such in particular that stuck out to Roxas: His Illuminating Royal Highness Best-at-Everything-so-he-Might-as-Well-be-God-in-Fact-I-Think-he-_is_-God Prince Stuffyhead Jerkface Bigego SnobbyMcSnob III--oh, _right_, that was the name of _every_ applicant.

At _any_ rate, (How Roxas' thoughts had a mind of their own) their little gigglefit was interrupted by one of the guards who had stumbled upon the scene. Who Roxas didn't particularly like, only because this soldier guarded her room. At _night._ But everyone had assured him that he was a good, clean guy that needed this job to bring his family out of the slums. No matter how much Naminé tried to sugarcoat everything, there were those in Square that were awfully poor and would die to even _see_ the Queen in real life.

"Your Majesty," He said, bowing, clearing his throat and glancing at Roxas and then at Axel, "Sir Roxas, Sir Axel, it is an honor to be in your presence. I have a message from His Majesty King Cid of Sanubia. I just received it moments ago." He handed it to the Queen, and she was about to open it, when Axel stopped her.

"Wait. It could be a trap," He said warily, snatching the letter from her hands.

"How could it be a trap?" Roxas asked.

"You'd be surprised. This letter seems pretty thick; not like a normal letter, unless the King decided to send you a present. Who gave you this letter? Did you receive it from a valid ship?" Axel asked, looking at the guard.

"I don't know, I was given it by one of the Black Thir--" He stopped when he received suspicious looks from Axel and Roxas, so he corrected himself, "--from one of Her Majesty's royal guards so it seemed legit," The soldier said, sounding nervous.

"Who?" Naminé asked.

"The one who was playing a type of lute--"

"SITAR!" They heard a correction being yelled out over the other side of the bookcase. Promptly, all the scribes shushed him. Roxas rolled his eyes. That was none other than the carefree musician Demyx. How _he_ was knighted was a mystery. He was the weakest member of the thirteen, and even if he wasn't--he was the group pacifist. Normally he handled errands...like delivering letters. Quickly the group moved over to the tawny-haired musician who was reading a book about music. (Although...it didn't look like he particularly _understood_ it)

"Demyx, where'd you get this letter from?" Axel asked, gesturing to the letter.

Demyx just shrugged and said, "I dunno. You see, I was playing my sitar outside and my sitar case was open and some kid threw that and some money in it. It was addressed to Her Majesty so I was like 'Hey! Why not deliver this to the Queen!'"

"You are one of the most idiotic people I know, tying with Roxas for first place," Axel said with an exasperated sigh. The Queen and he laughed when Roxas shouted out a "Hey!", but Axel just patted the blonde on the head and said, "Now, now, Roxas. Children should be seen and not heard." The blonde in question just sighed in frustration. He knew Axel was joking, but still! Sometimes he hated being the youngest. Except for Naminé, but anyone that made fun of her(except him, he always got off easy), well, let's just say they'd receive hateful glares from the entire castle staff. Word got around the palace like a fire to a forest.

"Shouldn't we open it?" Naminé asked, clasping her hands together and stepping forward, "In case it _is _a letter from His Majesty?"

Axel rose an eyebrow. "You're telling _me_ that you're trusting some guy we don't even know? I don't think so." He looked like he was about to rip it, but Naminé shook her head and took a step forward.

"But what if it _is!"_ She said, frowning.

"Naminé, trust Axel on this one. You and Demyx **both** are too trusting. There's obviously something bad in that letter and by you opening it, you are going to get an explosion in your face or some kind of air disease and will be bedridden," Roxas said with a hint of concern in his voice. There had been plenty of times (too many, actually) when Demyx got swindled and accidentally let someone enter the castle. Although the guards had been wary, any of Naminé's personal knights could override anyone else's decisions besides from her own. There were also some other exceptions, like if they got a visit from one of her relatives. Which barely happened. In fact, Roxas didn't really think they were on good relations. Except for her Uncle; he forgot his name but whenever she talked about him it was always good things. It was Uncle Cumulus--no, Uncle Stratus...Uncle...something or other. It didn't matter too much.

"Don't blame this on me!" Demyx said, placing the book on music back, "I did nothing wrong! I mean, it could be that the King decided to send her a present! I love presents, and Naminé probably does too! I don't know when her birthday is, but..."

Before he could finish his sentence, Roxas interrupted him with a look of awe. "You get _presents_ on your birthday?" Naminé and Demyx looked surprised, and even a couple of scribes looked his way. Axel, however, had a staid expression on his face.

"You never received presents on your birthday by your old family, Roxas?" Naminé asked, frowning and tilting her head. Of course, he did _now_ because she insisted that they hold a party for everyone of her thirteen knight's birthdays (and in turn, they held a big bash for her that was _always_ fun), and half the time everyone bought him a present. The other half they made up some stupid, complex excuse for being lazy and not getting him one. Which was fine, he didn't really need all the gifts he received anyway; but it was a nice gesture.

"My parents hated me, so of course not. They always preferred _Sora_. It was _always_ **Sora,**" He said, a bit of loathing in his tone, "Whatever I did, it was never good enough to get noticed. My parents were always concentrated on _Sora._ They send _him_ to the King's castle, and they send _me_ to some baron's castle, one where I can't receive as good training as I would if I were with _Sora_ in the King's castle. I was _always_ walking in _his _shadow and--"

"Relax, Rox," Axel said, making Roxas take a deep breath. The blonde hadn't meant to pour out all of his feelings into that mini soliloquy of his. "I've received birthday presents before--but they were all handmade and feminine," The redhead said, as if to make the blonde better.

"Handmade presents are my favorite!" Naminé said, "It shows that you really care and want to put some thought, effort, and time into making something instead of going to the market and buying something."

"It's amazing," Demyx stated airily, "that we can suddenly go from exploding letters to presents like that..."

"Oh, I believe it was me that instigated this tangent. I apologize," Naminé said, and then turned back towards Axel, who still had the letter in his hands. "Why will you not open it, then? If something gets out of hand I am sure my lovely three knights can handle it," She said, smiling as Roxas and Demyx beamed, while Axel didn't buy her bait.

"No, I don't think so." The redhead then ripped the letter in half, and they heard a crackling, exploding noise in the process. From the letter dripped egg yolk. _Egg_ yolk. "See? _This_ would've exploded all over your face. How weird that someone stuffed an **egg** in here instead of a bomb. Probably some stupid prank by a poor child."

"It makes me so sad to know that some of my people do not like me," Naminé said, holding her hand up to her heart. "Although I suppose there is nothing I can do about it."

"Yeah, 'cause you can kinda die if you go out there in your hoity-toity clothes, with all due respect, Your Majesty," Demyx said quite bluntly, which made Naminé and Roxas glare at him. Being a noble, Roxas would fit in the category of wearing 'hoity-toity' clothes. Out of the four standing here, he and Naminé were the only people who were in the aristocratic society--or at least, had aristocratic families. He forgot how Axel was knighted--actually, he _didn't_ forget, he was never _told_ (which would make _another_ thing that he didn't know about the redhead), and Demyx...Roxas didn't even _know_ about Demyx.

The only thing the mullet headed boy was good at was playing the sitar. And being thirsty. If there was a most annoying thing about Demyx, it would probably be that he needed constant hydration, on top of the other aspects of him that were equally as annoying. His only shining quality was that he was a pacifist; and a good musician if he wasn't _trying_ to annoy people.

"She doesn't need to be reminded about that," Roxas said quickly, seeing the smile drop from her face. "At any rate, Demyx, can you _please_ be more careful next time before going off and handing things to Naminé that could be dangerous?" Roxas didn't even know why he was saying this, because everyone lectured Demyx all the time but he never learned.

Instead of answering, Demyx just asked, "You know what I don't get?" Axel was about to respond with 'Everything', but before he did, the brunette quickly answered his own question with, "Why **you** get to call Her Majesty by her first name, but if I do that or if Axel does that, she'll explode."

"Like I said," Axel said, looking a little smug with himself as he grinned that grin that said that he knew _exactly_ what was going on no matter how hard someone tried to hide it, "_She_ has a secret that _she's_ not telling _anyone._"

"A _secret!_" The brunette's eyes lit up, "Ohhh, can I know, can I know?!" He asked, jumping up and down slightly.

"Well, I suppose." Naminé bit her lip, and then leaned over and whispered something in his ear. Demyx gasped and then looked shocked. He then proceeded to jump about in his excitement of knowing the Queen's secret.

"_I got a secretful, a secretful of sunshine--_wait, that's not how it goes..." Demyx seemed to think for a minute, "_I got a pocketful, a pocketful of secrets..._no, that's not it either. Hmmm..."

While he was thinking on what the song was, Axel just sighed and rubbed his temples as he looked at his best friend and mumbling, "Just as I stated, _too_ trusting."

"Oh, this reminds me!" Naminé said, turning towards Roxas and Axel, "Speaking of secrets, there is something you both must know about Princess Rikku..."

* * *

If you're really clever, you can probably connect the dots and tell who Nami's Uncle is. It doesn't really matter too much since you'll find out later anyway.

Also, there is a specific reason why I didn't add in translations for the Al Bhed (the italics) portion of the chapter. It's because this story is about Sora and Roxas, and while it's not told in their perspective, it IS centered on them, and for the _beginning_ of the story, everything YOU know is just what Sora/Roxas know and what people tell them. Of course, later on it gets more complicated, but...That's the reason why I don't provide translations; because if they don't know something, then you don't. Besides, whenever something is spoken in Al Bhed, someone will state the translation anyway. If you want to look it up yourself, then go ahead.

For some reason, I don't like the way this chapter turned out. I spent about five hours revising it. It came out way too wordy for me. (And you know me; I'm WORDY)

This chapter was such a doozy...


	6. Journey of the Renegade Dream

**Disclaimer:** We'll be singing, when we don't own anything, we'll be singing... "I get knocked down, but get up again, and I still don't own anything in this story..."

By the way, you won't get to see what was in the letter until, like, the last stage. But you WILL get to read it eventually. I think...Teehee. :3

P.S. I totally and completely forgot to thank everyone who reviewed Stage the Third...so thank you to k2, Lydia-hime, summerIIfire, lebrezie, Din's Daughter, Ryusabre, Random, dragonlover131313, namixasfan (they so look good together, don't they? I like your icon, by the way), and everyone else who's reading along!

The Black Thirteen

Stage the Fifth: **Journey of the Renegade Dream**

_While the younger de Luz brother and his redheaded friend, apparently enshrouded in mystery, are preparing for travel to the deserty island, a completely different scene is taking place on the island of Bikanel..._

One adjective to describe this entire week: Boring. Dull. Trapped. Okay, maybe that was _three_ adjectives, but they all described how she felt; or at least, her bleak situation. How did she even end up here, in this stupid bird cage in the middle of that stuck-up Prince's room? Maybe not in the _middle_ of his room; the cage was on his desk. She was only kept in a cage because currently, she was five inches tall and could probably get out of this godforsaken place if she was let out.

Ah, yes, this was the fairy Princess Rikku. Not _exactly_ a fairy--a half fairy. A _big_ difference, you know. For one, she reverted back to her naturally short stature of five feet four inches when she had energy. Right now, she currently lacked that energy because she hadn't eaten in a week. Not because they refused to give her food, in fact, she had plenty of it, it was just that she wouldn't eat. Eventually they would let her out of this stupid cage if she refused to eat, right?

Initially, she had preferred being in this stupid cage thing, because it meant that she didn't have to hang around the Prince of jerks all day, since he insisted that she not wander off on her own. But now she felt like a bird with it's wings clipped. She didn't know if she'd be able to stand it in here another day, and therefore, she was starving herself. Not exactly a bright idea when she was parched and barely had any energy to move, which was why she was laying on her stomach on the cage. Although, from her perspective of being five inches tall, she could tell they had done their best to make her comfortable. They probably used toy furniture, but it mimicked a nice living room, even if the couch and bed was just a piece of fabric with cotton balls stuffed inside it.

"I hate that stupid, stuffy headed eye-patched...ooohhh! Just _thinking _of him makes me so _mad!_" She said, rolling over on her stomach and sighing in frustration. Somehow, her words didn't seem genuine.

She groaned when she heard the doorknob creak open. Rikku shut her emerald green eyes shut, in hopes that the Prince (which it undoubtedly was; no one else was allowed in his room) would think that she was asleep and leave her alone. She could see that he tried to make sure she was comfortable, but she just wanted to be back _home_ and would make sure she could do everything to make that apparent. Even if it meant starving herself. Oh boy, if her father, King Cid, found out, he would be furious. He was always telling her that she was too skinny for her own good and needed to get more meat on her bones.

Didn't this airheaded Prince get it? This kidnapping escapade was only going to make her kingdom hate his even more, not make them be friends. At this point, they had been fighting so long Rikku was almost close to believe that the fighting would never stop--if she had been a pessimist. But no, she was the exact opposite, being somewhat of an optimist. But the situation she was stuck in was just plain bleak. Why hadn't some people already tried to rescue her? Or maybe they had, and failed, and no one alerted her of this failed attempt. And, she was stuck here with _him_, the most infuriating person alive! Could this _get_ any worse? Hearing no noise, she popped an eye open, thinking that maybe he left the room quietly. But no, instead there the blonde Prince was, at his desk and doing papers.

He glanced at her, grinning when he saw her awake. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the little Princess."

"I-I'm not _little!_" She exclaimed, and he rose an eyebrow. "Alright, maybe I'm little _now_ but once I start to eat I'll be as tall as you, you big meanie!"

"So _eating _is what makes you back to your normal form, huh?" He asked, propping his head up on his elbow, "We've offered you every kind of food--"

"It's not the _food!_" She said in a whiney tone, "I hate it _here!_ I want to think that Sanubia and Bikanel are going to be all happy happy joy joy again, but Pops isn't going to like that you kidnapped me! He _already_ hates you--and why shouldn't he; this is just going to make it worse, Gippal!" Since they were both royalty, Rikku felt no need for any formality. Especially since they had been 'friends' in the past.

"He hates me?" Gippal asked, raising an eyebrow. "When we were younger, he used to love me."

"Yeah, but he didn't _know_ you were his archnemesis' son then!" Rikku piped, "I didn't know who you were, either! I never thought that _you'd_ just come strolling in my Kingdom. You tricked me, Gippal!"

"I didn't 'trick' you, Rikku. I was only trying to become friends with you," He said, seeming...hurt? No, _definitely_ not hurt; nothing could pop Gippal's big ego. Or that's what it seemed to Rikku, anyway.

"You _were_ my friend until Pops found out you are who you are and then shipped you all the way back to here! He thought you were trying to brainwash me into getting me to betray my country!" The emerald-eyed fairy said, crossing her arms. Although only five inches tall, her voice still projected as it normally would--or perhaps it was because she was such a loudmouthed girl ordinarily. That's what Gippal thought, anyway.

"I was _thirteen_ at the time, Rikku," Gippal said, sighing, "Let's be realistic. How the hell would I, a little adorable thirteen year-old, ('_Of course he always makes himself look good,'_ Rikku thought dully) brainwash a tomboyish ten-year-old?"

"Why else did you come over to Home?" She asked, letting her hands drop to her lap. Normally she would be all jittery, but since she didn't have any energy from practically starving herself, she didn't have the energy to move.

"Listen, Rikku, my mom died right before that time. I didn't know about it because I was off giving troops a morale boost with my aunt. She received news from my father, and he didn't want me to know about it. The only place he could send me was Home--your kingdom. He thought that maybe if my aunt and I went over there, no one would recognize us," Gippal said.

"Oh, so you only went over there because your mom died and your father didn't want to know. It wasn't because you wanted to brainwash me..." Rikku puffed up her cheeks as if angry, and then took a deep breath, "Ah, I didn't believe Pops anyway!"

"I don't know, Rikku, you're pretty gullible," Gippal said, chuckling slightly.

"I am _not_ gullible, you big meanie!" She retorted, turning her head to the side and closing her eyes, hmphing slightly.

Gippal got up suddenly, "Look, over there!" He shouted urgently. The urgency in his tone made Rikku jump to her feet and look around.

"Where? Where?" She asked, and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Hearing him laugh, she sat back down and adopted her angry look again. "Gippal, I hate you to death!" She didn't know if that was a common phrase, but if you could love people to death, then surely you could hate them to death, too!

"That's a little harsh, Princess," He said seriously, but there was an amused expression splashed upon his face. As his chuckling faded, he turned back to whatever paperwork he had to do. Rikku, not having anything better to do, just watched him with an angry look on her face. The silence continued into minutes which seemed to turn into hours which could have turned into _years_ for all she cared, before something disrupted the silence that had draped over the Prince's room.

That noise was none other than the sound of the lovely Princess' stomach growling. Things always seemed to happen to her at the _worst_ times; and her face flushed. Much to her surprise, Gippal did not laugh, but looked up at her with a serious expression on her face. "Rikku, you should eat. You're going to pass out; you haven't eaten _anything_ I've given you since you've arrived. What's it been? A week?"

"Maybe I will if you just let me out of here!" She growled, kicking one of the bars with her foot, and then recoiling in pain. Bad move. She made a mental note to herself: don't kick steel.

"Is _that_ why you stopped eating? You could've just said so," He said, and opened the cage door with a flick of the wrist.

She blinked, surprised by this. "You're not afraid I'm going to fly away?"

"Judging by your condition, you probably don't have enough energy to fly away even if you wanted to," He replied, and when she tried to even levitate, Rikku found she couldn't. Growling, she began to pick at some food that was lying about in her little dollhouse of a cage. Perhaps she would have eaten earlier, but even _she _knew that transforming in the middle of a birdcage wasn't exactly the best idea in the entire world.

"H-Hey! It's rude to stare at a girl--especially while she's eating!" Rikku said, throwing a loaf of bread at him, which was the equivalent of a breadcrumb to him. She _hated _being small; especially now because she couldn't be as intimidating as she'd like. Not that she'd intimidate Mr. Big Ego _anyway,_ but she could try, right?

"Whatever," He mumbled, going back to his paperwork. She ate until she felt like she had eaten enough to stave off world hunger for thirty years, and then she stood up and stretched. Seeing that Gippal was entranced with his fun paperwork, she silently got out of the cage and landed on the floor. In a moment, she was back to her normal height. Which, was still shorter than Gippal. But it was better being five foot four than five inches.

He noticed the vacant birdcage, stood up, and then turned around and said, "Well, getting taller didn't really do much for you--"

"That's so mean! I _hate you to death_, Gippal!" She wailed, growling and punching him in the arm lightly. He was about to reply with something, when the door swung open to reveal Gippal's father, the King. Rikku knew that the King of Bikanel was not exactly an easygoing father. She knew this because of the way Gippal spoke about him, and because when he entered the room, the Prince immediately bowed. Rikku followed suit, thinking, _'Man, and I thought __**my**__ Pops was a cantankerous old fart! But the King seriously has a stick up his butt if he thinks he's superior to everyone; even making his __son__ bow to him.'_

However, the King moved right past his son and towards Rikku. She was frozen, afraid to do or say anything that was going to make him throw her outside in the middle of the desert. Gippal was a jerk, but at least he wasn't a cruel-hearted person. (He seemed like it at times, but Rikku always thought that he generally meant well...for the most part) But his father was waaaay beyond a jerk. He was like, a jerk to the fifth power if there ever was one! He was a condescending person and if you didn't act the right way around him, he would send you down to the dungeons. Gippal even said _he's_ been down there before, and it wasn't a pleasant place.

"Princess Rikku," The King began, making Rikku stand up straight and bow her head slightly.

"Your Majesty, it's um, nice to meet you," She said, swallowing down a lump of nervousness that fluttered about her stomach. Gippal straightened his composure and looked toward them.

"You are fully aware that our countries are at war and that you are in your enemy country as a hostage, correct?" The King asked rather coldly. Rikku glanced at Gippal, who just gave her an apologetic look. She obviously wasn't going to receive any help from him.

"Yeah, but not because I want to be here!" She shouted, and then cleared her throat and added, "Um, with all due respect, Your Majesty." She didn't really know what he was getting at. But it was better not to ask.

"Gippal," The King then addressed his son, who bowed his head respectfully in response, "You do realize that hostages should not be living in comfy little crannies of your bedroom. We are in a war; this _palace_ is not meant to be a _hotel room."_

"We should give the Princess the treatment she deserves," He answered, "When she goes back to her own country and if she tells King Cid that she was maltreated here--"

However, the King interrupted his son before he could finish, "Gippal, I do not think you understand. Princess Rikku is here to establish peace. We may need to keep her here as long as she has to. If, or rather, _when_ King Cid drops this foolish war--maybe we can seal it with offering her hand in marriage. Until then, I do not think special treatment is needed. Princess Rikku is at _our_ mercy, but the way everyone in this palace has been treating her, it seems like the opposite. She is our _enemy_ and should be treated as such. What would King Cid think if he found out his beloved daughter was staying in a room with someone he _clearly _hates?" The King sent a wary look to Gippal, and then crossed his arms, "I am sure he would prefer her to stay in the dungeons. Even if we give her this so-called 'treatment she deserves', all the people from her kingdom are barbarians, and the Princess is no exception. I am sure she would lie and tell him that she was maltreated anyway, what difference will it make?"

"What about--" Rikku started, obviously upset at the idea of _marriage. _(and that he just called her a barbarian! The nerve!) She was a free spirit, or at least that's what she had always considered herself, "What about Queen Naminé and King Mickey? They should know about this!" Although, she knew that _marriage_ to an Al Bhed originating from Bikanel (which would made Gippal a candidate. Blegh.) would probably be the best political move to make, Rikku wasn't into politics and all of those things. Which sucked, because after her father died, she was next in line to the throne since her elder brother was no longer in contention for the throne after he removed himself of his title as Crown Prince. So, sooner or later, she was going to _have _to get married--or at least have a child. Ugh. Maybe she'd adopt.

"They already do," The King replied sharply, "I suspect that innocent, doe-eyed Queen Naminé of yours is sending out a troop of knights to come and rescue you. Though, on the same note, our King Mickey should have suspected this move. But he knows we want peace, though _she_ may not; he will probably send out his own brigade of knights."

"Hey!" Rikku placed her hands on her hips, "Don't count your chocobos before they hatch! Queen Naminé is intelligent and intuitive!" Noticing the look on Gippal's face and the anger momentarily flashing through the King's face, she let her arms drop to her sides and gulped, tugging at her scarf and laughing a little nervously. "Um...that's not what I meant! King Mickey is cool and all too! I just...I want to think that peace can be established and that it might start with our kingdoms, but it goes beyond our little island! Square and Disney have been fighting for years and years...our great-great-grandparents started this all and I don't know how, but can it ever be righted? Fighting is the only thing we're all accustomed to; it's going to be difficult for us to change." When the King opened his mouth to reply, Rikku cut him off without meaning to, "I mean, even if we make peace with each other, citizens of Square will hate Disney, and citizens of Disney will hate Square. That's how it will be, no matter how much we want that to change. It seems like...the only option that's left is to let one side obliterate the other."

After Rikku's speech was over, the King didn't seem too happy with it since she had sounded so anti-peace. Rikku honestly hadn't meant it that way, but the King seemed to have taken that statement beyond what she meant. "If that is the case," He said quite coldly, drawing the sword at his side, "Then why don't we finish things now?"

_This_ made Gippal tense up and immediately he stepped in between his father and the Princess. "Father, you are being unreasonable. If the Princess goes back to King Cid and tells him we want peace, then this can be achieved! But if you kill her, then this war is going to continue! Everyone on both sides has lost someone we care about; no one wants this to continue any longer!"

"Then why," The King said, sheathing his sword and regaining his composure, "will the Queen Naminé and King Mickey not sort this out through a treaty?"

"Father, you're an intelligent man. You should see that even if they do both want peace, there is always going to be feelings of mistrust for one another. Uneasiness leads to suspicion, which will just lead to another war. This war is something that is not going to just dissolve away; it's going to take time. But it can start with _us,_" Gippal said, trying to reason with his father, and then added, "Why are you contradicting yourself? You want peace, yet you want the Princess to stay in a dungeon? You want peace, yet you're willing to kill her on the spot?"

"Silence, boy!" The King roared, making Rikku jump. However, Gippal did not flinch. He was probably used to his father yelling at him all the time. He seemed like a strict person. "_You_ will _not_ tell the King what to do. You forget that this girl just said she wishes for one side to obliterate the other." Rikku was about to say something in reply to this (she didn't say _that)_, but didn't want any more misinterpretations so she figured the smart thing to do was keep her mouth shut.

"I was _not_ telling the King what to do, and father, I _will_ be King someday," He replied, crossing his arms. The tension between the two was so thick, the blonde Princess could swear that she could actually pull some out of the air.

"Until that day comes, Gippal, _I_ am King and my ruling goes. But--" The King took a deep breath, "I will not forget what the Princess has told me. If that is how her kingdom feels, then we may have some work to do..." Then, he left. As soon as he did, the blonde Prince released a deep breath and closed the door once more; though he didn't close it with enough force to slam it shut, just enough to leave it ajar.

"Sorry about that cross-examination, Rikku. My father has been getting very emotional lately. The anniversary of my mother's death is coming around--he tends to go a little overboard when that day is coming near." Gippal sighed, and then shrugged.

"But Gippal--" She started, wringing her hands nervously, and then lacing them behind her back as if she did not know what to do with them, "What if I'm right? What if the only way to win this war _is_ for one side to obliterate the other?"

"Rikku," He said with a laugh, but with also a serious undertone, "When was the last time you were _ever_ right?" This made her puff up her cheeks and hit him in the shoulder.

"Oooohhhh! Gippal, you just make my blood boil!"

* * *

"What?" Sora's mouth dropped as the words told to him by the King were registered in his head. "_Me? _Going to a hostile environment by _myself?"_ What the King had told him consisted of this: That Sora was going to have to go to Bikanel to ensure that it was not attacked. And much more, he was going to have to go _by himself. _

"It is not a hostile environment, Sora. Goofy and Donald would accompany you, but I do not know what the Queen is planning so I need them here," The King explained, and Sora frowned.

"I guess I'm not living up to my name then, huh?" He asked, scratching his head and sighing.

"I think you are good enough to go by yourself, don't I?" the King asked, and said, "I think you have the ability to surpass your father _and_ Goofy and Donald. You have not even been knighted yet, Sora. You should take this as a compliment that I am letting you go on to Bikanel by yourself."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Sora bowed, and then asked, "When am I going, Your Majesty, and how long will it take for me to get there?"

"You should get going as soon as possible, Sora," He said, then noticed the worried look on Sora's face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Your Majesty," The brunette said, nodding his head, "But I'm really terrible at navigating things..."

The King laughed at this, and Sora wondered what he said. "I think you misunderstand, Sora. I'm not sending you out on a raft all by yourself."

"Oh..." Judging by his relieved expression, one would think that the squire actually _thought_ King Mickey was going to send him out on the unforgiving ocean all alone!

The King laughed even more at this, and then smiled, "I would never do anything like that! There's a rumor that there's a Kraken plaguing the oceans, so of course you are going in one of our battleships in case anything attacks you. So there will be able sailors on the ship, but you are going to be the only one actually trekking to the palace in Bikanel to make sure nothing is attacked."

"Speaking of that..." Sora rubbed the back of his head, "Why am I _going_ there, anyway? How long will I be there?"

"You are just going there to protect the palace from any knights Queen Naminé may send. You will stay there as long as the King and Prince Gippal need you there. I don't suspect it will be long, they have plenty of able fighters there. But, I just want to be sure." The King smiled and said, "You will be my eyes and ears in Bikanel. Be ready to report the situation there to me."

"I will, Your Majesty." He took a deep breath once more and then said, "Do you think I will need to pack a lot?"

"I have already got it handled, Sora." King Mickey waved a hand and the door opened, as if on cue. Revealing Kairi in a maid outfit, carrying a big bag of luggage, apparently with some difficulty.

"Geez, Sora, your wardrobe is about as big as the entire castle!" She said jokingly.

"Ah! You shouldn't have to carry that, Kairi! Sorry!" He mumbled, turning scarlet as he went over to her and grabbed the bag of luggage. It was heavy; well, it wasn't to him but he could see how Kairi could struggle lifting a big bag such as this.

"No, that's alright. It's my job, remember?" She laughed, tilting her head slightly. "Which reminds me...you have to leave for Bikanel, don't you?"

"Yeah..." He looked glum, "I do."

"I hate the desert." She shivered involuntarily, and then clasped her hands together, "Come back safe, Sora. I--those Al Bhed can be cruel at times. Most of them are good at heart but the King of Bikanel you need to watch out for."

"Did you live there, Kairi?" The brunette asked, curious about her past. He didn't want to pry--but he wanted to know at the same time. Everyone in the entire world knew about him--and if not, then everyone knew about at least _one_ de Luz. He was a celebrity, practically. If the citizens hadn't grown used to him, they would shower him with presents everyday. Actually, he had been out to a town once with Goofy and Donald and _man_ did the people love _him._ One girl even asked to marry him. Actually, a couple had. But anyway.

But before she could say anything, King Mickey interrupted this conversation by piping, "I think you should get going, Sora. If Queen Naminé has already sent out her knights, then they will arrive before you will."

As the brunette was about to leave, the King suddenly said, "Oh, I almost forgot!" This made Sora turn around as the King explained, "Aside from the battleship you will take, I asked some friendly, seafaring pirates who are experienced with battling the Kraken to aid you on your excursion. Just tell them who you are, and they won't rob you." _That_ made Sora feel better.

"It's not like they'll believe me, though. I mean, I guess they will...but anyone can tell the pirates that they're me! I've heard that all of the de Luz family members have these really amazing blue eyes...but anyone can have really amazing blue eyes," He said thoughtfully.

_'Sora's right; he DOES have amazing eyes,'_ Kairi thought to herself. Honestly, she could just stare at them forever--especially since where she came from, blue eyes weren't common. She knew about one person from her hometown who had blue eyes, and that person wasn't exactly the type to just let people stare.

"Why don't you give him something from your kingdom, like a symbol or a stamped letter or something, Your Majesty?" Kairi suggested.

"Hmm..." The King seemed to think for a moment. Then, suddenly, his eyes widened as he held a finger up in the air, "Ah-ha! I've got it! Sora, Kairi, come with me." He walked to the throne; a long walk actually, with both Sora and Kairi in tow. Once at the throne, the King turned around and said, "Wait here." He then went back inside his room.

"I wonder what the King is retrieving," Kairi said, placing a finger on her cheek. The brunette just nodded in agreement as they both waited there patiently. Then, the King came back in a moment's time. In his hand he held a golden sword with a white hilt.

"This is my personal sword," The King said, holding it out to Sora, "Show them this and they'll know you're from me."

Sora was surprised at this; surprised that the King was _trusting_ him with this. "A-Are you sure? Isn't this valuable to you?"

"It sure is, but that's why I'm letting you take it. It will allow you to get a feel for what handling a real sword is like, and I trust you, Sora. I believe you won't lose it. If you handle it well enough; maybe I'll give you the Oathkeeper or Oblivion when you get knighted!" The King said, and grinned.

"Oblivion? Oathkeeper?" Sora asked, tilting his head. He glanced at Kairi, who just shrugged.

"Aside from that sword right there, Oblivion and Oathkeeper are my most treasured swords. They have special abilities that have protected Disney for years! This castle's been attacked numerous times, but luckily the magical powers of the sword have been able to protect my kingdom. I really owe a lot to them!" The King chirped, laughing slightly and then saying, "Alright, well, that's settled! The boat is docked on the harbor; you can leave whenever you are ready!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Sora bowed to the King, and then the brunette turned to Kairi, "See you in a little bit, Kai."

"Hey! What happened to Miss Kasei?" She asked, crossing her arms and looking angry. It was so convincing that Sora was about to apologize, but stopped when she laughed and let her arms drop to her sides. "Just kidding! I _will_ see you later, won't I?"

He froze momentarily, before raising an eyebrow, "Of course. Wh--Why wouldn't I? I can't die on this mission, can I?" He glanced at the King, who now wore a somber look.

"The possibility is always there. We don't know how powerful the Kraken is--we just hope that it won't attack you on your way there or back. But if you are, then you are surrounded with people who are experienced in handling it."

"Then, Sora, promise me you'll come back," She said firmly, a serious look on her face.

"Yeah, of course!" He nodded, and with that, left the throne room. He was slightly perturbed by the fact that this was a potentially fatal mission, but refused to let that down his optimistic demeanor that had bounced back after he met Kairi. It was weird, being so depressed and then having a girl cheer up your whole attitude. Besides, he couldn't die yet--he still had to become a knight for his brother, and he had a promise to keep to Kairi, anyway! Who would protect her if he died?

As Sora left the throne room, King Mickey turned to Kairi with a worried look on his face. "What's the matter, Your Majesty?" She asked, afraid that he was going to tell her that there was no chance of survival for Sora.

"I think I should have taught him Al Bhed first..."

* * *

This is where the story gets confusing, not gonna lie. It's not that it gets CONFUSING, like, plot wise (I mean, two brothers separated in countries warring 'gainst each other...how confusing is that??) well, you guys might think so, it's just that there's a lot of characters and they all have their own backstories, so it might be hard to keep track.

Like, it's easy with just two perspectives because you can just split a chapter in half, but now that there's more...well, I like fleshing out characters. Besides, they all meet up at some point so it works out. God, I hope this doesn't lower the bar for anyone. n.n The only thing I really HATE about reviews is that when people are like, 'omg this story is the greatest', I'm always scared that the next chapter/rest of the story will be a huge disappointment. (Don't get me wrong; I LOVE reviews; don't let that scare ya!) But, there's nothing worse than disappointing readers.

-sigh- Maybe it's just a lack of self-confidence. It doesn't matter too much. Anyway, see you guys next chapter! (Hopefully xP)

P.S. I would just like to add that the two main characters in here are really Sora and Roxas, but I thought that if I put them as the two main characters, everyone would think this story is incest or narcissism or whatever the hell the Sora/Roxas pairing is called. (I think Sora and Roxas would make great friends/brothers, but I just can't ever see them being all lovey dovey...-shudders- Maybe it's just me and the fact that I don't really like yaoi. Not that I'm a homophobe or anything; I just don't like it. Yaoi fangirlism just never rubbed off on me. Wonder why...)

Anyway, so, that's my two cents. While Nami IS a main character and really reaaally important in terms of the world, (she's the QUEEN of SQUARE, for heaven's sake! Of course she's important!) it's not HER story you see flesh out; it's Roxas and Sora's. Anyway, longest author's note EVER, so BYE!


	7. The World That Shares Their Fate

**Disclaimer:** I'm awake, but my world is half-asleep...-hums 'Incomplete'- Sorry. I don't own Incomplete by the Backstreet Boys. I also don't own anything that appears in this story, which belongs to either Disney, Square, or both Disney AND Square. (and 'Not Your Enemy' by the J-Mac)

By the way, I decided to name the ships _Fantasia_ after the movie and _Star Ocean _because that's like, the best game series EVER made by Square. Excluding Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy, of course. I mean, SO:TtEoT was magnificent and since basically no one will know about Albel Nox, Mirage Koas or Clair Lasbard (meaning; I can't put any characters from SO here), I decided to make my own little tribute to SO. PLAY THE GAME IF YOU HAVEN'T!!

P.S. I decided to spilt this chapter into two smaller chapters. (it was originally bigger) Sorry, guys. XP!

P.S.S. A special thanks to k2, dragonlover131313 (I think I'm gonna abbreviate your name to dl13, do you mind?), and lebrezie. Also, thanks to everyone who's reading along.

Stage the Sixth: **The World That Shares Their Fate**

_Two weeks had withered away; and both de Luz siblings were at sea, headed for the Isle of Bikanel. The rumors of the Kraken are making everyone on edge, and stormy nights makes the crew particularly nervous. For, they have a good reason to be..._

"I hate the sea," Axel muttered, his face turning green as he got sea-sick again. "Man, I get all sick and wobbly when I even _try_ to walk across the ship." He glanced at his blonde friend, who was having no difficulty at the seafaring life. "How do you do it?"

"I was trained in the castle of Atlantica. You may not know about it, but those people were such great swimmers you'd practically think they were _mermaids."_ Roxas sighed and shook his head, "They taught me how to swim; and although I'm not able to swim in armor like they are, they taught me how to do some pretty impressive things like swim against rough currents and things of the like."

"That's really possible?" The redhead blinked and then looked out to sea with a glum expression on his face, "I can't even _look_ at the sea without getting sick, let alone _swim _in it. I'd be hopeless in water combat."

"It's a good thing people don't fight in the water, then," Roxas said, resting his hands on the railing. Squinting, he thought he noticed two specks in the distance. "Hey, what's that?" The dirty blonde asked, tilting his head slightly as he tried to make out what the specks were, only to no avail. Maybe Axel had better vision than he, for that's what Naminé claimed.

"What's what?" The redhead questioned, looking back at Roxas and then trying to see where he was looking at. "Oh, you mean those ships?"

"You can tell they're ships?!" He was surprised. Naminé _was_ right--there was a lot to his best friend that Roxas didn't even know. For one, she was right when she said he had keen eyesight.

"From the looks of it, they belong to Disney," He said, then shrugged, "The symbol of Disney is the mouse ears and a castle, right? And the other ship has a jolly roger on it--it must be accompanying the Disney ship."

"The only thing I see are dots! You can actually see their _masts_?" Roxas was in shock. _Keen_ was not even the adjective to describe Axel's vision. It was..._superhuman._ "Your eyesight is like an eagle's!"

"You're giving me too little credit, Rox. It's _better_ than an eagle's," He said, then chuckled, "I'll go alert the Captain."

"Wait, Axel--" Roxas felt as if there was something the redhead wasn't telling him--actually, he _knew_ there was something Axel was keeping from him, and _now_ he just _had _to know what. Seeing Axel stop and turn around, he asked, "Are you..." He was about to finish it off with 'human', but that would be stupid, so he shook his head and looked back out to sea, "Nevermind. It wasn't important." In his thinking, he realized that he was really an impatient person. The Queen had even told him that he would know about his best friend in time--but _time_ was seeming to take _forever!_

Soon enough, he began humming a tune while thinking. And then, the humming turned into an inaudible beat in his head. After, the beat turned into quiet singing. But of course, he didn't think anyone heard him, so he dared to raise his voice, even if it was just by a note.

"_...But that was another place_

_And that was another time_

_It's not fair to blame me for all his crimes" _It was after the first stanza of his song that he heard a dreamy sigh from behind him. Actually, multiple dreamy sighs. The first thing that was on his mind was, _'What the hell, Axel's gay? No way, he's such a womanizer...'_ Then he turned around to face what he thought would be the redhead, but luckily, it was just a bunch of female sailors who, apparently, were now in love with him.

"Oh, Sir Roxas de Luz, your voice is _soooo_ dreamy..." Said the first, clasping her hands together and placing the union on her cheek.

"...And you have such _gorgeous_ blue eyes..." Said the second, adopting a dreamy look in her eyes.

"...And you're just _sooooo_ handsome..." Chirped the third, who was inching closer and closer to him. There were more, but they were only repeating what the first three said. They all seemed to be moving closer to him every time he blinked. To be quite frank with you, Roxas was getting scared of these female admirers. They looked like the type that were going to force him to undergo some sort of weird marital ritual which included him performing some kind of dance wearing a flowy pink dress. He shuddered at the thought.

Roxas gulped, trying to remember how Axel had told him to deal with raving female fans. Although, luckily for the redhead he was the charming type, whereas the dirty blonde would end up looking like an idiot if he tried any of that player stuff. Besides, saying those cheap pick-up lines that never worked anyway made him feel uncomfortable. Come on, some of the ones Axel taught the blonde were just stupid. 'I lost my teddy bear, can you sleep with me instead?' _That_ was just lame, and Roxas had witnessed when Axel had used that pick-up line and received three favors after. Favors being a glove or scarf or something from a lady that a knight would take to ride into battle. Compared to what a loser he was two years ago..**.**Wow.

Though soon enough, the girls were close enough that they could just reach out and touch him. "S-Sorry ladies, I'm um..." He tried to think of something that would get them to back off. Then he remembered his earlier thought and he blurted out, "I'm gay!"

These girls froze for a moment, then let his words register through their brains. Then the first one, who seemed to be the leader of the group, squealed and said, "Oh my Nomura, are you _gay_ for _Sir_ _Axel?"_

"Ye--Wait, **WHAT?" **The very idea of him being 'gay' for Axel was just...ludicrous. They were best friends. Nothing more. He wasn't gay for anyone! If anything, he was in love wi_--'What the hell are you thinking, Roxas?'_ He mentally slapped himself thrice for thinking such thoughts. "I'm not gay for anyone! I'm just--a homosexual! By Saint Nomura, can't you just leave a guy and his sexuality alone?!" Now they had edged so close that Roxas was practically hugging the railing in order not to touch them.

"That's alright, Sir Roxas de Luz, we love you no matter what and who you like!" Said the second sailor--and it was hard to believe they were all _sailors_ and not giggly maids who had infiltrated on the ship. Maybe they were...

Roxas had no idea how it happened. It wasn't like he was a gynophobe or anything, but he just did _not_ want to touch those girls. That's probably how it happened. Because once the girls moved closer, that was it for him. Somehow, someway, he flipped over the railing and plummeted to his icy cold _**death.**_ Alright, maybe not, but it sure was _freezing._ Thanking Saint Nomura for the first time for having his father send him to the castle of Atlantica, he swam to the surface of the ocean quite easily. He remembered he had his swords on him when he fell, so if anything attacked him...wait, his swords? While treading water (and staring up at the girls who were too dumbfounded at what just occurred to yell for help), he felt his sides to see if he had lost his swords. Because luck happened to be on his side today, both of them were gone.

Mentally cursing in his head, he yelled up at the girls, "Get the Captain!" Though, over the waves and because of the distance between them, he doubted they heard him. Then, Roxas went under to find his swords. They were both pretty heavy, so if he didn't swim to the bottom fast, they'd be lost forever. He couldn't see anything; just an abyss of sea-green that stretched out before him endlessly.

He was almost out of breath, and he had been down here for three minutes already. The training at Atlantica made him sharp at holding his breath. He could stay under for at least five minutes or so. How he did it, _he_ didn't even know. Swimming more vigorously, he thought he saw one of his sword's hilts. He reached out and grabbed onto it, however, _that_ was when disaster struck.

Before he could even see it coming, something very, very cold struck him across the face. It was so cold that it actually burned. Disoriented from losing oxygen, he kept his grip on his sword and attempted to make out what had hit him. It was a...giant tentacle; bigger than him. Multiple words ran throughout his mind, but they consisted of this, _'Holy mother of Nomura __**this**__ is the Kraken. I am going to die.'_ But he was not going to give up without a fight, even if he was starting to feel light-headed and dizzy. There was no way, with how deep he was under, that he would make it back to the surface in time. So, he grabbed his sword, figuring the other was lost in the deep depths of the ocean, and swung at the tentacle. Surprisingly, it made a clean sweep.

But the Kraken didn't like that very much, for he heard an intense roar rattle his head, likely coming from the nautical monster itself. Roxas' vision started to black out as he was losing oxygen, and although he continued to try to slice up the tentacle, it was not long before the Kraken's other tentacles shot out and struck him as well. The last thing he felt before blacking out was them constricting him tighter and tighter, the last thing he saw was about six sets of razor-sharp, spiked teeth coming towards him, and the last thing he heard was a familiar voice screaming inside of him, _'Light, give me __**strength!'**_

* * *

Sora wished he was a pirate. Alright, maybe he didn't--for pirates had a less glorious fame than that of knights, and people generally thought bad of pirates--but _man_, it was _awesome_ being one. Not that he'd know, but he had begged the captain of his ship to let him ride with the pirates. Grudgingly, the captain let him, and now Sora was watching Captain Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa arguing over who was Captain of this ship, named the Black Pearl. Apparently it held some value to both. Sora busied himself by watching the argument volley for a while. Finally, he felt as if his head was going to implode from the neverending argument.

"Why don't," He began loudly, so loud that everyone stopped and stared at him, "You _both_ become Captain? Jack--"

"_Captain_ Jack Sparrow," The pirate corrected with a nod of his head.

"_Captain_ Jack Sparrow," Sora repeated, feeling like he was back in the Disney castle being lectured by Donald, "can take control of half of the crew and ship, and then Barbossa--"

"_Captain_ Barbossa," The other man corrected.

With a slight roll of his eyes and a sigh, Sora corrected himself, "_Captain _Barbossa can control half of the crew and ship."

"That's actually not a bad idea, mate," Said Jack, as he walked to the left, and then to the right, "But this is _my_ ship and I should get the--" Jack paused in his tracks, and seemed to be staring at something confusedly. The whole crew turned to see what Jack was staring at, before a huge wave rippled beneath them and made the boat swerve dangerously.

"The Kraken!" Miss Elizabeth Swann, one of the only ladies aboard, shouted, "It's come back for Jack!"

"Nah, poppet," Said another pirate whose name Sora forgot, "It's going after something else. See?" The man pointed out towards sea, and they could see that the ripple was going towards a speck in the distance. Jack and Barbossa instantly got out telescopes to check what was going on.

"The ship in the distance--Ay, it's one of Square's, and it seems the Kraken is going towards it. Most likely they were planning to intercept us on our way to the isle," Barbossa explained, putting away the telescope, as did Jack to his.

"We should help!" Sora piped up. The pirates (and Elizabeth, as well as her 'boyfriend' of sorts, Will, whom were not pirates. Although Will seemed to have some kind of connection to the piracy line, but Sora had not been told everything yet) looked at him liked he was crazy.

"Are you insane?" The dark-haired Will asked, his voice slightly raised so it made Sora flinch, "If we go after the Kraken ourselves we will be _dead!_ Besides, they are our enemy so it's better for us that the Kraken isn't after Jack."

"Why does the Kraken want Jack, anyway?" Sora questioned, tilting his head.

"Maybe we'll tell you when you've put on a few more years, laddie," Barbossa said, chuckling slightly and then looking back out to sea.

"We should help," Sora repeated softly, "It's our common enemy! If we join up and defeat it--"

"Then what?" Will shouted, crossing his arms, "Then Square will attack and kill us all!"

The brunette frowned. "Not helping out to destroy the Kraken is wrong! If Disney and Square team up, we can defeat it together! Think about it: This could be our first step towards peace! No more battles, no more people dying! It can start _here_!" He said, feeling as if he were a motivational speaker. He was always good at these pep talks. Though, this time, he was doing terribly at them. All he received were blank stares from the crew members who didn't want to go along with his plan; most likely they thought of it as suicide.

"Fine then! But remember this: After the Kraken destroys Square's ship, it'll be after us!" Sora said, hoping that would make a point. "Wouldn't it be better to join forces now that way we can get rid of it before it kills us? And we don't have a guaranteed chance of dying after we defeat the Kraken! The Queen probably didn't send a whole fleet out, and we have one of our best ships, H.M.S. _Fantasia_ on our side, as well as the _Black Pearl!_ We can beat the Kraken!" The brunette said, but the blank stares continued. No one agreed with him. Well, he was a de Luz and he could use his family name as an influence on the Captain of the _Fantasia! _After all, the _Black Pearl_ was supposed to be escorting them, so if the _Fantasia_ got in a fight, the _Black Pearl_ was going to have to join in the fight, right?

Just as Sora was about to grab a rope and swing to the other ship, Captain Jack Sparrow came to his aid. "I say we aid the boy in his plight. _But,_" Jack turned to the brunette, who had the biggest grin on his face, "you'll be paying for the repairs on my ship if it gets damaged."

"_My_ ship," Barbossa corrected, and then he pointed a finger at Sora's grin, "And wipe that smile off your face, boy. Going into battle is not something to be happy about."

* * *

FINITO! Yes, it was a short chapter, but I actually liked having it split. You know, it seems like the bad things always happen to Roxas. -laugh- Let's hope that it won't stay that way forever...

Anyway, I hope I'll update soon. Midterm week is coming up, so I won't guarentee anything...


	8. Memoirs of the Abyss

**Disclaimer:** Nope. =D

The second half of last chapter. XP

The Black Thirteen

Stage the Seventh: **Memoirs of the Abyss**

The Kraken had came up to eat him and then--he was here? Roxas was standing in the middle of a platform in the middle of a darkly colored abyss of purples and light browns, and for a moment he wondered if he was in some kind of weird version of Heaven. To what he could see, there were three paths before him: One to his left, one to his right, and one extending in front him that branched off into another pathway that cut off abruptly. Looking behind him, he could see that there was a path behind him, but it was enveloped in darkness.

There was a big boulder-like structure in between the paths straight ahead and to the right of him, and since they both swerved, he couldn't see where they ended up. He took a deep breath and examined himself--he was wearing his black cloak, which was weird because that wasn't the last thing he had on. And taking a step forward, he didn't feel any pain anywhere. Looking back up, he was surprised to find a man wrapped in red with glowing honey yellow eyes standing in front of him. Instead of asking 'who are you', like he wanted to, he instead asked, "Am I alive?"

"It depends," The man answered, starting to walk in circles around him. Which made Roxas nervous; he didn't like his back being exposed to this stranger, so he turned his head as much as he could until the man said, "Do not worry. I am not a foe if you wish it." Feeling this was going to be one of those philosophical people who liked to talk in riddles, Roxas took that as a 'I won't attack you'.

"It depends? The Kraken ate me, how does that _depend_ on anything? It _did _eat me, didn't it? Is this it's stomach? Then why are you here?" He asked, remembering what had last happened before he passed out. It was possible, he supposed, that Axel and the Captain of the ship managed to miraculously kill the nautical threat, but then again, _anything_ was possible. It was possible that he had been dreaming about his whole life up to this point and in one moment he could wake up, still seven, at the gateway of his parent's castle and bidding goodbye to his brother. One of his only happy memories...

"Again, that all depends on who you let control your fate." The man in red waved a hand, and suddenly, people who Roxas held close to him started to appear at the head of each pathway. At the path to the left of him, Sora (well, the arrival of _Sora_ was a surprise; he would've expected someone else) was standing guard, or it was more like crouching. Two swords were at his sides, stuck in the ground--one that was golden with a white hilt, and the other that was silver with a golden hilt. He was holding onto them, but his arms were crossed, making it look like that it was not possible to go there. Roxas couldn't even see his brother's face since his head was looking down. "Sora--" Roxas was about to say something, but his brother did not even budge at his name. Of course. This was a dream world; reality was not accepted here.

Looking to the right, he saw that Naminé was sitting on the edge of the path, right before a gateway covered in vines. She was not dressed up all regally; wearing a plain white dress with blue sandals, and although the crown on top of her golden locks shined magnificently, nothing outshined her beauty. She seemed to be drawing something, as she held a paintbrush and a notebook and was painting on it furiously, and wasn't really paying attention to what was going on around her.

"Naminé's here too, huh..." Roxas said quietly, but like Sora, he didn't expect her to hear him. Except, she did.

Her head snapped towards him, and she placed down her notebook carefully. She slowly rose to her feet, and Roxas was amazed that during all this, the crown stayed atop of her head perfectly. "R-Roxas! Why are you here? You cannot..." She looked around, seeming shocked that he was here, "You cannot be here! You have to get back before it is too late!"

"It's 'too late'...?" He questioned, but the man cloaked in red stepped forward before she could answer his question.

"Naminé, you must not speak any further!" He ordered, but the blonde would not cease.

"Roxas, this is a place you only go if you are on the brink of life and death! What you do here, whatever path you choose, it will all choose whether you _live or die!"_ She shouted, and was about to say something more when the cloaked man finally had enough. He held out his hand, and some imaginary force knocked Naminé against the gateway that was around that path. She got knocked out cold, and no more was heard from that direction, except the faint sound of the crown falling from her head.

"You can't do that to the Queen!" Roxas growled, about to run to her and make sure she was okay (he _was_ her knight, after all), but the cloaked man took his arm. The blonde tried to swing at the cloaked man with his other arm, but his fist just phased through the man's head. The honey-eyed man just let go of Roxas, feeling that was an explanation in itself that there would be no fighting. At least, not with each other. _'I swear, that guy is LUCKY he's dead...or made of ectoplasm...or whatever he is!'_ The knight thought bitterly, huffing.

"She is not the important one at this moment. Your destiny will end up being more than hers will ever amount to be; if you choose the right path." The man moved aside, and revealed the pathway that was straight ahead. In the ground were two swords, one black and one white, crossed over one another. He could see that from the pathway that branched out and ended shortly, Axel was there as well, and there was a wall of flames at his feet, though he stood there just as cocky as he would any other day.

"So, Roxas, whom will you choose? For your own destiny is not in your hands, but it is in theirs." The man moved behind him so Roxas could get a good look at all of the paths.

"What a hypocrite," The dirty blonde huffed, crossing his arms, "You say my destiny's not in my hands, but then why am I allowing myself to choose what will happen to me?"

"You don't know what will happen to you when you put your fates in the hands of others," The man explained, but staring over these paths, Roxas could tell he was lying.

"I get it now. If I take the left path, I end up putting my life in Sora's hands." Then, he mumbled, "As if _that'll_ ever happen..**.**" But before the red-clad man could question him on it, he continued, "If I take the right path, the Queen decides what happens to me. But if I go forward--what then?" He asked, knowing he had gotten this all figured out. He was going to beat Fate _and_ this man. (which he ESPECIALLY wanted to do because he _hit_ the Queen and _no one_ has the right to hurt Her Majesty--even in a weird dream world like this one) He was going to _live_; he was sure of it now.

"Then you put your fate in your own hands. At this moment in time, you are slowly being devoured by the Kraken, so there is not much you can do to stay alive," The robed man replied.

"If I go forward, I get a close call," Roxas said, pointing to the branch-off where it cut abruptly, "That's where I should, and _can_ die. But Axel is guarding it. So if I take this path, it seems to me that Axel will save me from the Kraken. Sora--I can't see where his path leads, but he's blocking it, so he doesn't want me to take it. And that boulder there--" Roxas pointed to the big structure, "I assume that it's hiding that if I or Naminé takes control of my destiny--I'll end up at the same place because it covers where the paths meet. That's it, isn't it?" The man was silent, so he knew he had hit it right on. "You can't trick me; it's _my_ destiny. By the way, if I chose to have Sora or Naminé to control my destiny--how would they do it, anyway?"

"It does not matter, your fate is not your own," The man said calmly. The way he had said that was infuriatingly condescending. It was enough to pull a person's hair out.

_That_ was it. Although Roxas had been calm and composed before, _this_ is where he snapped. First this man had the audacity to hurt the Queen, then he said that she was going to amount to _nothing,_ and now he was saying that he could not even control his own fate! This man had too much of a superiority complex for his own good; even if this was Saint Nomura in disguise or something, he had _no_ right saying any of these things!

"Shut up!" Roxas yelled, not even bothering to glance back as he ran towards the path in front of him, "My destiny is my own; I'll _prove_ it to you!_"_ He grabbed both of the swords that were on the ground, and then ran onward. The branch-off with the abrupt cut with Axel at guard was going farther and farther away as he continued to running. The abyss of purples and browns started to grow darker and darker until he was in complete black, yet he could still see that the path ended before him, illuminated by the fire that was accompanying Axel a long ways off.

"It all comes down to this. I will _not_ turn back; I believe in myself!" He took a deep breath, mentally slapping himself for sounding like such a motivational speaker. That was something his brother would say, not he. Seeing there was now a ledge, he held the swords in front of him and jumped off the ledge, shouting, "Light, give me _**strength!"**_

* * *

Sora had to say, Square had some _pretty_ cool knights. While the ship was meandering over to the Kraken(whilst shooting cannons at it), the brunette had been up in the crow's nest with a telescope alerting the pirates of the condition of the Kraken. Boy, was he surprised when he saw some redheaded dude jump off the ship and go all 'Flame on!' on the Kraken. Can anyone say calamari? Though, all kidding aside, the de Luz had been pretty shocked when he saw this. He had heard of people being able to summon beasts and do crazy stuff, but never of being able to generate and control fire like the redhead could. Sora suspected that if his family had been of Square and not Disney, then one side would have won already. Not that he didn't have faith in Disney; he had unfailing faith and loyalty to his home country, but Sora didn't think they had any people that could just manipulate fire so skillfully like that.

Then, as the redhead fried the Kraken and as all three ships began to fire at the creature, something else happened. Another light radiated, but it was not from the pyrokinetic person. It was from the depths of the ocean, as if the Kraken itself was generating the brilliant white light. It was so hot that Sora could even _feel_ it from his far place away.

"The Kraken...what is it doing?" He heard some pirate ask.

To reply to this, Sora put away the telescope and looked down at some of the pirates that had gathered beneath him and were gazing in awe at the scene. "It's not the Kraken that's emitting that light," He said, loud enough so everyone could hear.

"Then what is it? I've never seen anything like it before..**.**" Elizabeth started, pursing her lips together and looking back out at sea.

"I..." Sora shook his head, shrugging slightly, "I don't know. But for some reason, instinct is telling me that it's not from the Kraken." He just had this gut feeling--he couldn't explain it. Then again, there was some kind of feeling of cold dread knotting itself up in his stomach, and he didn't know why. He kind of felt as if something terrible was happening to him, but he didn't feel any pain and he was watching himself from far away. It was weird. Like the anxiety coiled up in his stomach was detached; not his.

"Ah! Sora!" Will looked towards him, and the brunette saw everyone do a doubletake when they glanced back at him to see why Will had shouted his name.

"What?" He asked nervously, "What is it?" He was definitely perturbed by everyone's shocked expressions whilst looking at him. This didn't help the anxiety burning up inside of him, either."I-It's not behind me, is it?" He asked, preparing for meeting the Kraken face to face when he turned around. But to his surprise, there was no sign of that octopus resembling creature, except in the distance. There was nothing but blue skies ahead of him, and the sea. He turned back to the pirates and scratched his head, "What?"

"That light, boy," Barbossa started, "It's coming from you, too!"

"Huh?" Sora held out his hands and indeed he could see himself glowing. A shocked expression came over him as he slowly looked out to sea, "W-Wait, that's impossible..."

"If I remember correctly, you have a brother, don't you?" Elizabeth asked slowly.

"Yeah, but...he's dead. But..**.**" Sora was utterly confused. "No one else should be able to generate this light. Unless it's my father or mother there...but no, they're both dead as well! I-I mean...I'm n-normal, aren't I? T-They're dead, aren't they?" But, if his brother was alive it would make a lot more sense. After all, ever since they've been little they have been particularly in tune with the other's feelings. So if his brother was generating this light for self-defense against some great danger, it would only make sense that Sora was generating the light, too. It would also explain that feeling in his stomach. Surely, if it was his brother (which Sora was a hundred percent sure it wasn't), he'd be feeling this to a greater degree, too. It would explain the detached feeling that came along with the anxiety. _But wait. _Since _when_ did he have this ability to suddenly turn on like a lamp in the first place? "I don't know what's going on..**.**but for sure the light is **not** coming from the Kraken."

"So the King's been keeping something from you, eh?" Barbossa asked, "That's why we pirates never go and serve him; because he's a dirty--" There was a string more of hurtful adjectives thrown in there, but Jack laughed uneasily when he saw Sora's angry expression and interrupted his co-captain.

"Ah, what Barbossa means is that King Mickey is a noble lad! Whatever he's doing, it's for the good of the country and for you!" Jack corrected, and Barbossa just looked the other way.

Sora frowned, and then said, "I--I'll go over to the _Fantasia_. Maybe--Maybe the Captain knows something. Throw me a rope." He held out a hand as a pirate swung him a rope. As soon as he grabbed the rope, it started to burn in his hands. He released a startled yelp and let go of the rope. It scared him--how he had no idea what was happening to him. "I burned that rope--what's going on?!" He shouted, trying to calm himself down. The pirates down below shouted somewhat-encouraging words to him to help him keep cool, because they knew if he lost it he could burn the whole ship down and that would _not_ be a good thing.

But as the _Fantasia_ and _The Black Pearl_ drove closer to the Kraken, shooting cannons at it, the Captains with telescopes gasped. "Aye, we think the Kraken is down! Right, Jack?" Barbossa asked gleefully as the whole crew rejoiced. Jack just grunted in response.

"It'll be back sooner or later...after me," Jack said, not sounding too pleased.

Elizabeth and the rest of the pirates seemed to ignore this statement as they all looked up to Sora. The aforementioned said, "Look, Sora! That light--it's gone from the both of you!"

Sora held up his hands and indeed, the light was gone. Hastily, he took out his telescope and looked through it, desperately trying to see who or what created the same light as he. He had a feeling he knew who it was, but he didn't want to make any inaccurate assumptions. He thought it was that redhead; maybe he could control light like he could to fire. (Although something didn't click...the redhead hadn't been anywhere near the light when it radiated like that)

All he saw through the telescope was an orange lifeboat going down from Square's ship--_HMS Star Ocean_--and then he saw someone--probably the captain, dive under water and later bring someone on board the lifeboat. Sora strained to see who it was, but he couldn't make out any faces or anything. It looked like a white blob from so far away, even with the telescope. He could see that a red blob--probably that redhead, was with the white blob. Disheartened, he put away the telescope. However, his spirit was lightened when a red-faced pirate burst onto the scene with a bottle of rum in his hand, yet looking jovial.

"I found all the rum!" He declared happily, and all the pirates rejoiced more. Sora looked confused for a minute, before getting down from the crow's nest.

"Rum...?" Sora asked to himself, having never heard of it before. It had to be the drink in the pirate's hand, but he didn't know exactly what it was.

"Sora, laddie," Jack strolled up to him, "Have you ever tasted rum before?"

"Jack!" Came Elizabeth and Will.

"Well, I've had rum since I was a baby, what's the harm in giving it to the kid? The more the merrier, that's what I always say!" The pirate captain said, taking a swig of the rum.

"_Jack!"_

"Alright, fine. Sorry, Sora. No rum for you."

"Really? Aw..."

* * *

Fin. I hate how this chapter ended.

Anyway, I just saw The Uninvited today...it had a dissatisfying, tragic ending. Though, I wanna make a KH fic based off that plot really badly...hmmm, hmm, maybe I'll do it in the future...

To anyone who plans to see it...well, it's not scary (there was one freaaaky part with her boyfriend, though, for anyone who knows what I'm talking about). And I was the only one crying in the movie theater (granted; it was just six people but...), and I really love Arielle Kebbel so that was a plus.


End file.
